Coeur de Pirate: Prémonition

A new track and accompanying video marking the return of Coeur de Pirate ahead of an album that marks the tenth anniversary of her career.

Coeur de Pirate's last album was 2015's Roses, an album that reached the top five in Canada and in France.

Since then she's spoken about the possibility of stopping making music, finishing her career and her wish to return to anonymity.

Recent months have seen something of a change of heart though, as since November she's appeared as one of the judges on Nouvelle Star on France's M6 channel.

The high-profile reality show is the French version of Pop Idol, and its 13th series on French TV saw Coeur de Pirate alongside Benjamin Biolay and music industry figures Nathalie Noennec and Dany Synthé.

The show came to its conclusion with the victory of Xavier Matheu in a public vote on December 20.

Her new album, her fourth proper colletion, is expected in the spring. She's confirmed a live date at the Olympia in Paris on October 9.

Marc Lavoine ,Coeur de Pirate and Arthur H: Vivre ou ne pas vivre

A new track featuring the combined talents of Marc Lavoine and Coeur de Pirate, collaborating on the song Vivre ou ne pas vivre.

The release comes ahead of Lavoine's forthcoming new album, a project that sees him undertaking musical adaptations of the work of Hans Christian Anderson.

The album sees Lavoine work with Coeur de Pirate and Arthur H, the son of French music legend Jacques Higelin who has enjoyed a successful career of his own.

Lavoine established his career with the track Elle a les yeux revolver in the mid 80s, his most recent studio collection is 2012's Je descends du singe.

Coeur de Pirate is of course no stranger to this blog, her most recent album being last year's Roses, a top five release in France and in her native Canada.

The album, entitled Les souliers rouges is to be released in September.

Coeur de Pirate: I Don't Want to Break Your Heart

Another single from the recent Roses collection from Coeur de Pirate, with the song I Don't Want to Break Your Heart following Oublie-moi and Crier tout bas as singles.

It's her third album proper, and its an album that has an eye on an Anglophone audience. This English language track follows an English version of Oublie-moi entitled Carry On.

She embarks on a tour shortly in France, with dates in North america beforehand.

European dates begin with a show in Nantes on April 1, with a show at the Zénith in paris teh following day.

Coeur de Pirate: Oublie

A close-up session with Coeur de Pirate ahead of the release of her new album.

Her new collection, entitled Roses is released at the end of this week, following her Trauma album which came out last year.

That album featured a selection of covers including Aint no Sunshine. Leonard Cohen's Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye and the Rolling Stones' Dead Flowers. The album was recorded as a soundtrack for the Canadian TV series of the same name.

The session, featuring three tracks,  was for RTL2's series Session Très Très Privée.

 Coeur de Pirate is touring in October, with a show in Paris at L'Olympia on November 5.



Coeur de Pirate en Session Très Très Privée... by RTL2

Benjamin Siksou: La bande à Renaud 2

A second volume of La bande à Renaud came out at the end of last month, a follow up to the tribute

collection that was released earlier this year.

The first volume of La bande à Renaud saw the work of the beloved French singer songwriter interpreted by the likes of Cœur de Pirate, Bénabar and Nicola Sirkis from Indochine, along with Carla Bruni and Nolwenn Leroy.

Renan Luce, the son in law of Renaud, is another of the featured artists.

The album reached number one in the French charts, with the version of Mistral gagnant by Cœur de Pirate reaching the top 20.

The new volume sees a number of new artists on the bill including Thomas Dutronc, along with  Emmanuelle Seigner and Bernard Lavilliers.

Benjamin Biolay, Nolwenn Leroy, Nicola Sirkis and Renan Luce make return appearances.

Health problems means Renaud himself is keeping a low public profile, but his music is continuing to find a whole new audience.

Emmanuelle Seigner: Marche à l'ombre

A new album of artists covering the songs of Renaud is due out next month the collection La Bande à
 Renaud 2 following up the success of the previous album.

La Bande à Renaud tribute album came out earlier this year and reached the top of the French album charts, and featured artists such as Coeur de Pirate with a memorable cover of Mistral gagnant,
Nicola Sirkis from Indochine performing Hexagone, as well as Benjamin Biolay, Carla Bruni, Nolwenn Leroy and Grand Corps Malade.

The first tack to emerge in full from the new album is Emmanuelle Seigner singing Marche à l'ombre, the title track of Renaud's 1980 album.

Seigner's most recent release was her Distant Lover album that came out earlier this year. She's best known as an actress, having had  long career including films like  Place Vendôme and La Vie En Rose. She's also the wife of director Roman Polanski.

The new album will feature contributions from  Olivia Ruiz, Thomas Dutronc, , Benjamin Siksou, Louane and Emily Loizeau and others , while Nicola Sirkis , Renan Luce, Benjamin Biolay  and Nolwenn Leroy appear again having featured on the first volume.

Renaud: La Bande à Renaud Versions Originales

A recent tribute album La Bande à Renaud takes songs by French singer Renaud and sees them re-
interpreted by other artists.

These kind of collections have proved hugely popular in France in recent years, with the Génération Goldmancollections selling thousands of copies. Of course, while evidently a worthwhile commercial proposition, they also serve to introduce a new audience to the work of one of France's finest songwriters and performers.

I thought the release merited a look at the Vesions Originales of the songs, as they were performed by Renaud Séchan himself.

Manu: A track from Renaud's 1981 Le Retour de Gérard Lambert album. The version on the album is sung by Jean-Louis Aubert



Mistral gagnant: The title track from his 1985 album. It's proved to be one of his most durable songs, with several artist covering it over the years since. The La Bande à Renaud version is performed by Cœur de Pirate, and made it into the top 20 as a single.



La pêche à la ligne: Another track from the 1985 Mistral gagnant collection. On La Bande à Renaud it is sung by Bénabar.



Laisse béton: The title track from his 1977 album. The new version is by rapper Disiz.



Il pleut: A track from his 1988 Putain de camion album. Élodie Frégé performs a version on the Bande à Renaud album.



Chanson pour Pierrot: A track from his 1979 Ma gonzesse album.  The  Bande à Renaud album features a cover by Raphaël.



Hexagone: One of the songs that made Renaud famous, a track from his 1975 debut album Amoureux de Paname. Nicola Sirkis, the singer with Indochine, performs the version that appears on  La Bande à Renaud.



Deuxième génération: A song from his 1983 Morgane de Toi album The new compilation features a version by Benjamin Biolay.



La ballade nord-irlandaise: A track that featured on his Marchand de cailloux album from 1991, and also appeared on his 2009 Molly Malone – Balade irlandaise album, his most recent release. La Bande à Renaud features a version by Nolwenn Leroy



En cloque: Another track from the 1983 Morgane de toi album. The cover on the Bande à Renaud album is by Hubert-Félix Thiéfaine.



C'est quand qu’on va où: A song that comes from his À la Belle de Mai album from 1994. A new version recorded by Carla Bruni features on La  Bande à Renaud .



Je suis une bande de jeunes: Another track from 1977's Laisse béton. The  La  Bande à Renaud  version is performed by Renan Luce, Alexis HK & Benoît Dorémus.



La médaille: An anti-military song from his 1994 À la Belle de Mai collection. The new album features a cover by Grand Corps Malade.



Dès que le vent soufflera: The final track of the La  Bande à Renaud  album, a version by all the artists on the collection. The original fetured on his 1983 Morgane de toi album.

Coeur de pirate: Je suis venu te dire que je m'en vais

A great cover of the Serge Gainsbourg classic by Coeur de Pirate.

There's a strong argument that Je suis venu te dire que je m'en vais was Gainsbourg's last really great song. I don't know if I'd totally agree, but it's certainly possible. It is an outstanding piece of work.

The interpretation by Coeur de Pirate shows how well Gainsbourg's work stands up to the test of time, and how different artists can add their own style to his work, bringing out both something new in the original song and bringing out something in the artist too.

One thing that I love about Gainsbourg is that despite listening to his music for decades now there still seems to be much still  to discover. He covered  so much ground in his career that there are all kinds of interesting areas that I'm still finding out about. His films, his soundtracks, his acting...before we even get to the dusty corners of his discography.

Coeur de Pirate's most recent release was a soundtrack collection for the Canadian TV series trauma earlier this year, an album of cover versions of songs by the likes of The Rolling Stones, Tom Waites and Amy Winehouse.

Her 2011 album Blonde reached the top five in France.

More recently she's composed the soundtrack for a video game entitled Child of Light, her second major release in what look set to be a busy year for her.

This video's been around since 2011, I'm just surprised I've not heard it before but sometimes with the best will in the world and an open pair of ears I miss out on hearing some great material when it first appears.

 No excuses now, this deserves a listen.

Coeur de Pirate:

Some new music from Coeur de Pirate, just a matter of months since her last album.

The Canadian singer, known to her friends as Béatrice Martin, released a collection of covers on the album Trauma, a sountrack for the firth season of the Canadian TV series.

She's now composed the music for  a new video game, entitled Child of Light, to be released at the end of the month by digital entertainment giant Ubisoft.

Child of Light is a role playing video game based on fairy tales, and Coeur de Pirate's music is based principally on piano with orchestra backing.

It's a very different release to her earlier release this year.

Trauma included covers of songs by Bill Withers (Ain't no sushine), Lee Hazlewood (Summer wine), Amy Winehouse (You know I'm no good) and the Rolling Stones (Dead Flowers) Previous serieses of the show featured covers by acts from Quebec including Martha Wainwright, Ariane Moffatt and the Pascale Picard Band.

Coeur de Pirate's 2011 album Blonde reached the top five in France and featured the track Place de la République.

Looks like 2014 will be a busy year for her.

Cœur de Pirate: Noël Blanc

A French version of White Christmas by  Cœur de Pirate, from 2011's Noel! Noel!! Noel!!! collection by Michel Legrand.

Another tune to fill the Christmas season while we take it easy here at viveleroq.com.

More to come in a few days, but next year is a long way off and in the meantime, pour another eggnog and stick another log on the fire.

The weather's turning and it looks like we should stat indoors for a little longer..

Coeur de Pirate: Place de la République

A new video by Quebecois singer Coeur de Pirate, for the song Place de la République.

The video for the song by the artist known to her family as Béatrice Martin was filmed in Paris in November 2012 and was directed by Martin herself.

The track is her third to come from her second album Blonde, which was released at the end of 2011. She's not been idle over 2012 though, having given birth to a baby girl in September.

She has a number of live dates ahead in March, April and May in France, North America and elsewhere. She also plays a number of North American shows solo, without her backing band.

Coeur de Pirate: Noël Blanc

Another track from the Noël! Noël!! Noël!!! album just because its the festive season, this time a French version of a well-known Christmas song interpreted by Coeur de Pirate.

It's another classy track from an album that's certainly head and shoulders above most festive collections, so no problem highlighting another track.

To those unfamiliar with Legrand, who at the age of 80 is perhaps from a different generation to most of those on the album, but as a musician he has been active from the 1950s, and over his lengthy career has worked on over 200 film soundtracks from the French nouvelle vague to musicals like Les Parapluies de Cherbourg as well as being a respected jazz musician in his own right.

He has worked with some of the biggest names on 20th century music, including Sinatra and Streisand, and some of his songs have gone on to be recognised as standards.

His film career has seen him working with some of the giants of cinema, such as Godard, Altman and Clint Eastwood.

He has also won three Oscars, including one for the best original song from a film, Windmills of Your Mind from the 1968 movie The Thomas Crown Affair.

New: Coeur de Pirate - Adieu

A new track by Coeur de Pirate, ahead of the release of her second album later this year.

Béatrice Martin, as she's probably more known to her family, is a Canadian singer. She's released one album so far, 2008's self-titled album. It was nominated for a Juno award in Canada for Best Francophone album of the year in 2009.

Her album came out in Europe in 2009, the song Comme des Enfants received the award for best original song in 2010.

The album differed from the Quebec/Canada release, with the song Comme un Infidele sung as a duet with Juliene Doré, the video paying tribute to the French 60s pop scene.

You could imagine Gainsbourg and Birkin or Dutronc and Hardy at the centre of the kind of French Beatlemania celebrated in the video.

Her new song suggests the album is going to be an assured follow up to her debut, with a flavour of classic pop but with a modern outlook.



Her new album Blonde is out on November 14, and she plays dates in France in November and December.