Julie Pietri

Julie Pietri (born 1 May 1955, Algiers, Algeria) is a French pop singer, known for her single, “Ève lève-toi”, which was number-one on the French SNEP Singles Chart (Top 50) in November 1986 (also released in English-language, under the title “Listen to Your Heart”).

Pietri spent the first five years of her life in Algeria. In 1962, because of the independence gained by the country, her family was forced to exile in France. Thereafter, she decided to return to North Africa, in Casablanca. A few years later, she decided to live in Le Pecq, in Saint Germain en Laye suburb.

At the age of fourteen, Pietri formed a musical group named Transit, with whom she performed songs from artists including Véronique Sanson, Janis Joplin and Joe Cocker. In 1975, th band released its first single: “On s’est laissé faire”.

Then, after two years of studying speech therapy, she began working with La Bande à Basile, a music group dressed in costumes inspired by the Commedia dell’arte; she was dressed as a gypsy.

In late 1979, Julie was chosen to record the song “Magdalena”. It was successful, allowing the singer to record her first studio album in 1980 with the contribution of French composer Jean Schultheis and lyricist Jean-Marie Moreau. In 1981, she went for the first time on stage of the Olympia with Sacha Distel. Seduced by her voice, he invited her to participate in his show and to sing with him two songs as duets.

In 1982, Pietri met success with “Je veux croire”, a post-disco song with gospel sounds. She then enjoyed success with a French language version of The Kinks’s hit “I go to sleep”, retitled “Et c’est comme si”.

The following year, Pietri duetteed with French singer Herbert Leonard on the song “Amoureux fous”. Other singles followed including “Tora Tora Tora” and “À force de toi” (a cover of “I Should Have Known Better” performed by Jim Diamond) which supported the release of her new album in 1985, À force de toi. Meanwhile, she founded her own line of makeup. She was again invited to perform at the Olympia during a show by Belgian singer Frédéric François. She decided to take a break.

During this whole period, her stage name was simply Julie.

In 1986, the singer returned to music using her complete name, Julie Pietri, and scored a French number one hit with “Ève lève-toi”. She re-recorded the song in English as “Listen to your heart”.

Le Premier Jour, her new album, was co-written by the singer. In December 1987, the song “Nuit sans issue” was released at the same time of the album release, composed by Vincent-Marie Bouvot. A few months later, she participated in a charity song with other artists for the boat people in Southeast Asia: “Dernier Matin d’Asie”. In December, the singer gave a series of concerts at the Olympia, followed by a tour through France. She sang “Nouvelle Vie”, the second hit off the album, and did a cover version of “Non, je ne regrette rien” by Édith Piaf and “La vie ne m’apprend rien by Daniel Balavoine. …

Source: Article “Julie Pietri” from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.