site.btaBulgarian-French Singer Sylvie Vartan Turns 80

Sylvie Vartan, born in Bulgaria to an Armenian father and a Jewish-Hungarian mother, relocated to Paris in the 1950s and in the 1960s became a europop icon thanks to hits which include La plus belle pour aller danser, Si je chante, and Zum zum zum. She has been interviewed by Telerama.fr on the occasion of her 80th birthday.

Vartan was born in Iskrets, 45 km from Sofia, and was raised in the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois. Music has been part of her life since she was a child. Her father and grandfather were musicians. Growing up, she became fond of jazz under the influence of her brother.

"I lived in Bulgaria till I was six," Vartan tells Telerama.fr. She describes her family as very caring and loving. Her father spoke French and worked at the French Embassy in Sofia. At seven, the future star and her family moved to Paris. They lived in a hotel for four years before they could afford a house. Vartan started school and learned French in an authentic way. She says she was very shy.

After the family moved into a house, the first thing her father bought was a piano. Vartan first entered the Olympia, the famous concert venue in Paris, when her brother Eddie took her to a show. They watched American jazz pianist Count Basie. "It was my first concert in Paris," Vartan says. By that time, she had made her first record. Eddie Vartan's influence was strong. He was a jazz musician, and thanks to him, the future yé-yé star discovered Miles Davis and Ella Fitzgerald.

Fame befell her at the young age of 17 after she made her first record Panne d'essence while still at school. She remembers herself surrounded by photographers on her way out of school. Singing eventually became the most important thing for her: "I wanted to become a comedian, study at a conservatory. Little by little, I became fond of singing."

Sylvie Vartan and the late Johnny Hallyday, "the Elvis of France", were an iconic couple in life and in music in the 1960s. They first met at the Olympia thanks to Vartan's brother Eddie. Hallyday was the pre-eminent star of French music. In 1963, he and Vartan toured France and starred in the film D'où viens-tu... Johnny? (Where Are You From, Johnny?). Shortly after that, they announced their engagement on the radio.

Vartan sold millions of records and became the most sold artist in France after Elvis Presley. She and Hallyday drew huge crowds to concerts in the 1960s and the 1970s. But misfortune was never far away. By 1970, Vartan had had two serious traffic accidents, and the stellar marriage was marred by trouble. Vartan and Hallyday divorced in 1980.

In 1990, Vartan gave a concert in Sofia. It was her first visit to Bulgaria after she left the country as a child. The death of her brother Eddie in 2001 caused a break in her career. In the autumn of 2004, she resumed recording songs and performing jazz ballads.

Sylvie Vartan has two children. Singer David Hallyday was born from her love with Johnny, and her daughter Darina was adopted in 1997, when Vartan was married to her second husband, American record producer Tony Scotti. Hollywood actor Michael Vartan is her nephew, son of her brother Eddie.

In early 2024, French media said Sylvie Vartan was leaving the stage. Her last concerts are scheduled for November at the Dôme de Paris in the French capital.