Hélène Ségara

Hélène Ségara
Hélène Ségara with Yannick Noah
Background information
Birth name	Hélène Rizzo
Born	26 February 1971 (1971-02-26) (age 38)
Origin	Six-Fours-les-Plages, France
Genres	Pop, Ballad
Occupations	Singer–songwriter
Years active	1985–present
Labels	East West, Warner Music, Mercury, Universal Music
Associated acts	Notre-Dame de Paris
Website	lnsegara.artistes.universalmusic.fr

Hélène Ségara (born Hélène Rizzo on 26 February 1971 in Six-Fours-les-Plages, Var) is a French female singer.

Biography

Her childhood in the French Riviera

Hélène Ségara was born on 26 February 1971 in Six-Fours-les-Plages in her grandfather's farm. Her father is Italian and her mother is Armenian.

She said that she had been traumatized in her childhood by the divorce of her parents when she was 8, and by the death of her grandfather when she was 16.^[1] As she wanted to become a singer, she left school and family at the age of 14.

Then she had many successive jobs including performances in the piano bars of the French Riviera. At 18, she gave birth to Raphael, her first son. Her repertoire was expanding, with many musical influences and over a thousand songs.^[2] In 1993, a first single entitled "Loin" was released, but didn't meet success.

Her life in Paris

In 1996, accompanied by her young son, she moved to Paris where she met Christian Loigerot, who became one of her composers. She also met the famous producer Orlando, Dalida's brother, who supervised and gave new impetus to her career. Almost she was marked by the experience and professionalism of this mentor, she remains under contract with her first producer.

Ségara began to have success with "Je vous aime adieu", the first single from her debut album, Cœur de verre (1996), and the duet "Vivo per lei", performed with Andrea Bocelli. She then played the role of Esmeralda in the musical Notre-Dame de Paris, composed by Richard Cocciante. While she auditioned for this role in 1997, she was selected in 1999, following the withdrawal of the Israeli singer Noa. "When the fate knocks at the door for a second time, we must not let it get away", said Ségara.

However, her career was jeopardised after being diagnosed with a cyst on her vocal cords, while she continued to perform in a show. During a show in Canada, she lost her voice. Her producer then resold her contract to Orlando while a laser operation was carried out to treat the singer's vocal cords.

A new start

After her convalescence, she recorded her second album, Au Nom d'une femme in 2000. The album topped the charts, and became Diamond disc. Five singles from this album were all successful. Ségara then began a concert tour that lasted about two years. A video recording of the concert she gave at the Olympia in Paris on this occasion was released. According to a poll made by the IFOP, Segara was the French people's favourite French singer at the time.

In March 2003 was released a third album, Humaine, including "On n'oublie rien, on vit avec", a duet with Laura Pausini and "L'Amour est un soleil", composed by Romano Musumarra. About 700,000 copies of this album were sold. She started another tour in late 2003 but was forced to stop her performances because of a difficult pregnancy.

In August 2003, Ségara married in Ajaccio Mathieu Lecat (son of journalist Didier Lecat), with whom she had two other children: Matteo (born in May 2003) and Maïa (October 2004).

Her fourth studio album, Quand l'éternité ... came out in 2006. The first single from this album was "Méfie-toi de moi", followed by "Rien n'est comme avant". This album has a different style from previous ones, with more pronounced rock influences, texts almost all composed by the singer, and that addresses issues such as the absence, death and hope. The album eventually achieved gold status three months after its release for more than 200,000 copies sold. In early 2007, she made a new concerts tour in France, including the Palais des Sports in Paris.

In 2007, when she finished the first part of her tour, two other songs from the album were sent to the radio: "Tu ne seras jamais libre" and "Father". Both songs were not released as singles. In late 2007, several editions came out : a box set with of 3 CDs (Les 50 plus belles chansons d'Hélène Segara), two boxes composed of 2 CDs with a new cover (Cœur de verre + Au Nom d'une femme, Humaine + Quand l'éternité...) and a CD 'Prestige' with 15 tracks. In February 2008, she released "La Moitié de nous", a duet with Bruno Pelletier, whose a part of profits were given to an association name Rêves.^[3] The tour "Quand l'éternité..." is ongoing until summer 2008, in France and abroad. This year, Ségara will also record a new album that is described by herself as a "realistic travel around the world", with a link between all the songs. This album will be released at the end of the year, before a new international tour, including two concerts at the Olympia on 22 November and 23, 2008.

Other participations

• In 1998, Ségara performed with Garou a duet for the album Ensemble contre le sida (Eng: Together Against AIDS). The song is a cover version of "L'amour existe encore", composed by Luc Plamondon and Richard Cocciante for Celine Dion.
• She supports associations Rêves, Les Restos du Cœur, Les Enfants de la Terre et e-enfance.
• She participated in the album Le Cœur des femmes in favour of the Association Laurette Fugain, as well as charity programs on France 3.
• She is also godmother of the association Suisse, Espace Adoption, which supports adoptive families and adopted children.
• Hélène Ségara is currently ambassador of the association Rêves since 1998.
• On 4 November 2006, Hélène took part in the Concert for Tolerance in Agadir, Morocco, where she performed with many international artists (Andrea Bocelli, Samira Said, Zucchero, Pascal Obispo, Florent Pagny, Faudel, Cheb Mami, Lorie, Amina...)

Awards

• Spring 1997: The Sacem awarded the price Rolf Marbot to Hélène Segara and Thierry Geoffroy, Christian Loigerot and Christina Vié, the writers and composers of the song "Je vous aime adieu".
• 1999: Segara was sacred Best Female Singer during the ceremony of the 'Trophy of Women in Gold' in Courchevel.
• 22 January 2000: Revelation of the year at the 'NRJ Music Awards' in Cannes
• 17 November 2000: Female Artist of the Year "M6 Music Awards" in Lille
• 16 December 2000: 'Trophy of Little Princes for the Best Singer of the Year' on TF1
• 20 January 2001: She received at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes a 'NRJ Music Awards' for the francophone album of the year.
• 17 February 2001: She won at the Olympia a 'Victoire de la Musique' for female artist of the year
• 2 May 2001: She won the 'World Music Awards' in Monaco for the highest selling disc in France for 2000/2001
• 20 October 2001: IFOP poll, ordered by the magazine TV Star, revealed that Ségara is the favourite French singer and the performer of the most beautiful love songs
• 25 October 2001: Ségara made her entry in the famous Who's Who.
• 27 December 2001: Segara formed a part of 10 stars who made 2001, according the French people, for the magazine "Gala".
• 10 July 2002: She won the 'IFPI Platinum Europe Awards' in Brussels
• 1 October 2002: She had her status at the Grevin Museum in Paris
• 13 January 2005: During the Fête de la Musique on France 2, "Il y a trop de gens qui t'aiment" was awarded 'Most beautiful love song'.

Discography

Albums

• 1996: Cœur de verre
• 1998: Notre Dame de Paris (musical)
• 2000: Au Nom d'une Femme
• 2001: En concert à l'Olympia
• 2002: Hélène (in Spanish-language)
• 2003: Humaine
• 2004: Le Best of
• 2006: Quand l'éternité...
• 2007: Les 50 plus belles chansons
• 2007: Collection prestige
• 2008: Mon pays c'est la terre

Singles

• 1993: "Loin"
• 1996: "Je vous aime adieu"
• 1996: "Une voix dans la nuit"
• 1997: "Les Larmes" (remix)
• 1997: "Auprès de ceux que j'aimais"
• 1997: "Vivo per lei (je vis pour elle)" (duet with Andrea Bocelli)
• 1998: "Loin du froid de Décembre" (soundtrack from Anastasia)
• 1998: "Vivre" (soundtrack from the musical Notre-Dame de Paris)
• 1999: "Les Vallées d'Irlande"
• 1999: "Il y a trop de gens qui t'aiment"
• 2000: "Elle, tu l'aimes..."
• 2000: "Parlez-moi de nous"
• 2001: "Tu vas me quitter"
• 2001: "Au nom d'une femme" (Remix)
• 2001: "Mrs Jones" (Live Olympia 2000)
• 2002: "Donner tout"
• 2003: "L'Amour est un soleil"
• 2003: "Encore une fois"
• 2003: "On n'oublie jamais rien, on vit avec" (duet with Laura Pausini)
• 2004: "Humaine"
• 2004: "On ne dit pas"
• 2004: "Ailleurs comme ici"
• 2006: "Méfie-toi de moi"
• 2007: "Rien n'est comme avant"
• 2007: "Tu ne seras jamais libre"
• 2007: "Father"
• 2008: "La Moitié de nous" (duet with Bruno Pelletier)
• 2008: "Qu'est-ce qu'on faire avec ce monde (Sodad)"

External links

• (French) Official Site of Hélène Segara
• Biography of Hélène Ségara, from Radio France Internationale
• [1] at Internet Movie Database

References

This article incorporates information from the revision as of 2008-06-07 of the equivalent article on the French Wikipedia.