La Grande Sophie
La Grande Sophie | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Birth name | Sophie Huriaux |
Also known as | LGS |
Born | Thionville, France | July 18, 1969
Genres | Pop, rock, chanson |
Years active | 1997–present |
Labels | AZ / Universal Music (since 2003) Epic / Sony-BMG (2001-2003) Les Compagnons De La Tête De Mort (1997-2001) |
Website | www |
Sophie Huriaux (born July 18, 1969 in Thionville), better known by her stage name La Grande Sophie, is a French singer-songwriter who got her start in the mid-1990s in the Paris alternative scene.[1]
Biography
Childhood
Sophie lived the whole of her youth in
The beginnings
At first attracted to the visual arts, especially sculpture, she studied at the
In collaboration with other young artists, including Jean-Jacques Nyssen, Clarika and Philippe Bresson, she participated in writing and staging a musical, La Marée d'Inox, played at the Théâtre Jean Vilar in Suresnes in February 1996.[4]
Kitchen Miousic and the first album
She created "kitchen miousic", which she defined as considering musical activity as little different from any other daily task. This popular and lifelike approach to writing and performing music was one of her distinctive characteristics. This self-definition also expressed her desire not to be pigeonholed into a specific genre.
Her influences ranged from
The majors
In 2001, accompanied by other musicians, she released her second album, Le Porte-bonheur (Lucky Charm), on a major label. This album sold over 50,000 copies, thanks to the single "Martin".
On May 11, 2004, she released her third album,
She returned to stores in October 2005 with an album titled
At this point in her career, Sophie paused and questioned herself. She wanted to give herself time to redefine herself in new ways, go back to basics, and refine her style and her arrangements, which she felt were weighed down with layer after layer of guitars. In the summer of 2007, she was invited to the Francofolies in La Rochelle for two concerts:
- July 12, 2007: An event in honor of Barbara, following the publication of her biography[5] by Valérie Lehoux, journalist from Télérama. For the occasion, Sophie covered six titles by Barbara.[6] Sophie also covered "Dis, quand reviendras tu" during her concerts in 2008 and 2009.
- July 14, 2007: On the main stage, she appeared with 60 musicians from concert bands from Lille-Fives and La Rochelle.Arno, but following his defection from rehearsals, La Grande Sophie agreed to take up the challenge. Five of his titles and a piece of Barbara were rearranged, with the participation of David Hadjadj.
On February 25, 2008, La Grande Sophie released a digital-only EP, containing acoustic versions of four songs and two previously unreleased tracks ("Un jour de fête" and "Avec un Grand F"). In March 2008 she began a solo acoustic tour, "Toute seule comme une grande", in France, Belgium and Switzerland. In the spirit of her beginnings, she played in small venues with only a guitar, bass drum and pedal. Also, she participated in Autrement dit, an album of covers of Claude François released March 10, 2008, with the song "Le jouet extraordinaire".
Des vagues et des ruisseaux
The new, long-matured album Des vagues et des ruisseaux (Waves and streams) was released January 26, 2009. The first single was called "Quelqu'un d'autre", a piece for which a video was also released, a nod to the film Inland Empire by David Lynch. According to the artist, the album was distinguished by its "woodsy" tone, and very consistent throughout. More emphasis was given to her voice. La Grande Sophie arranged the pieces on the album herself, with the participation of Edith Fambuena for three of them.
The tour started immediately with two dates at the Alhambra. Sophie was accompanied by three musicians, in broad outline, a drummer, a bassist, and a keyboardist-trumpeter, and, at times, a cellist. The tour lasted 15 months and had around a hundred appearances in France, Belgium, Switzerland and Canada, including at the Casino de Paris and at the Olympia in November 2009 where she received a gold record, as well as the Francofolies at La Rochelle, Spa and Montreal. (La Grand Sophie also received gold discs earlier for Et si c’était moi and La suite…)
At the end of 2009, the jury of "Les Sonos tonnent", representing
Discography
Albums
Year | Album (publisher) |
Peak positions | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
FRA | FRA (DL) |
BEL (WA) [10] |
SWI | ||
1997 | La Grande Sophie s'agrandit (Les Compagnons de la tête de mort) |
— | — | — | — |
2001 | Le Porte-bonheur (Epic/Sony Music France) |
— | — | — | — |
2003 | Et si c'était moi (AZ/Universal) |
27 | — | 84 | — |
2005 | La suite... (AZ/Universal) |
21 | 9 | 47 | — |
2009 | Des vagues et des ruisseaux | 12 | 10 | 21 | — |
2012 | La place du fantôme | 9 | 7 | 12 | — |
2015 | Nos histoires | 12 | 20 | — | |
2019 | Cet instant | — | — | 37 [11] |
55 [11] |
2023 | La vie moderne | 42 [12] |
— | 127 | — |
Singles
Year | Single | Peak position |
Album |
---|---|---|---|
FRA | |||
2013 | "Ne m'oublie pas" | 111 | — |
2016 | "Les portes claquent" | 194 [13] |
— |
References
- RFI, 23 février 2009. (in French)
- ^ RFI, Bande Passante, broadcast of 16 March 2006
- ^ La grande Sophie Archived 2010-07-10 at the Wayback Machine, biography, RFI, accessed on line November 30, 2010.
- ^ Un tour du côté d'une petite comédie musicale montée sans tapage par une bande de jeunes talents dans la proche banlieue parisienne. A Suresnes, la marée était en Inox Libération, le 24/2/1996. (in French)
- ISBN 978-2-213-62452-5
- ^ Le Hall de la Chanson
- ^ Dans le Show Business, documentary on FR3 Nord Pas-de-Calais Picardie by Caroline Béhague, broadcast 8/09/2007
- ^ Les Sonos Tonnent #9 : les meilleures chansons de l'année... et les pires, 29/12/2009. (in French)
- ^ Grand Prix du disque et du DVD 2009Charles Cros, 62e Palmarès Archived 2015-09-23 at the Wayback Machine, Académie Charles Cros, 7 January 2010. Accessed on line 2 December 2010.
- ^ "La Grande Sophie – La vie moderne" (in French). Ultratop. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
- ^ a b "La Grande Sophie - Cet instant - hitparade.ch".
- ^ "Top Albums (Week 3, 2023)" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
- Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Archived from the originalon 9 July 2016. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
External links
- Official site (in French)
- Official myspace (in French)