Mireille Mathieu
Born
July 22, 1946 (78 years old)
Known For
Acting
Place of Birth
Avignon, Vaucluse, France
Mireille Mathieu (born 22 July 1946), is a French singer. She has recorded over 1200 songs in eleven languages, with more than 122 million records sold worldwide.
Mireille Mathieu was born on 22 July 1946 in Avignon, France, the eldest daughter of a family of fourteen children; the youngest brother was born after she moved to Paris. Her father Roger and his family were native to Avignon, while her mother Marcelle-Sophie (née Poirier) was from Dunkirk. She arrived in Avignon in 1944 as a refugee from World War II after her grandmother had died, and her mother went missing. Roger, with his father Arcade, ran the family stonemason shop just outside the Saint-Véran cemetery main gate. The Mathieu family have been stonemasons for four generations. Today the shop is named Pompes Funèbres Mathieu-Mardoyan, owned and managed by her sister Réjane's family.
The Mathieu family lived in poverty, with a huge improvement in their living conditions in 1954, when subsidized housing was built in the Malpeigné quarter near the cemetery. Then again in 1961 they moved to a large tenement in the Croix des Oiseaux quarter southeast of the city.
Roger had once dreamed of becoming a singer, but his father Arcade disapproved, inspiring him to have one of his children learn to sing with him in church. Mireille included her father's operatic voice on her 1968 Christmas album, where it was mixed in with the Minuit Chrétiens song. Mireille's first paid performance before an audience, at age four, was rewarded with a lollipop when she sang on Christmas Eve 1950 during Midnight Mass. A defining moment was seeing Édith Piaf sing on television.
Mireille performed poorly in elementary school because of dyslexia, requiring an extra year to graduate. She was born left-handed, and her teachers used a ruler to strike her hand each time she was caught writing with it. She became right-handed, although her left hand remains quite animated while singing. She has a fantastic memory, and never uses a prompter on stage. Abandoning higher education, at age 14 (1961), and after moving to Croix des Oiseaux, she began work in a local factory in Montfavet (a suburb southeast of town) where she helped with the family income and paid for her singing lessons. Popular at work, she often sang songs at lunch, or while working. Like her parents, she is a short woman at 1.52 m (5 feet) in height. Her sister Monique, born on 8 July 1947, began work at the same factory a few months later. Both were given bicycles on credit to commute with, making for very long days, and many bad memories of riding against the mistral winds. The factory went out of business, so Mireille and two sisters (Monique, and Christiane) became youth counselors at a summer camp before her rise to fame, a summer where she had her fortune told by Tarot cards by an old Gypsy woman, saying she would soon mingle with kings and queens. ...
Source: Article "Mireille Mathieu" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.
Known For
Mireille Mathieu, la mystérieuse demoiselle d'Avignon
Self
2023
L'Âge d'or de la pub
Self (archive footage)
2023
Il était une fois Champs-Élysées
Self (archive footage) · (1 episode)
2022
La TV des 70's : Quand Giscard était président
Self (archive footage)
2022
Die Schlagerparty der 70er
Self
2021
Michel Sardou, les meilleures chansons
Self (archive footage)
2021
Concerto di Natale in Vaticano 2019
Self
2019
Les Enfoirés - Les Enfoirés en chœur de 1985 à aujourd'hui
2014
Denk ich an Weihnacht
Self · (1 episode)
2011
Musikalische Reise
Self · (1 episode)
2010
Willkommen bei Carmen Nebel
Self · (5 episodes)
2004
Die ultimative Chartshow
Self · (2 episodes)
2003
Star Academy
Self · (1 episode)
2001
Starnacht am Wörthersee
Self · (1 episode)
2000
Beckmann
Self · (2 episodes)
1999
Vivement dimanche
Self · (5 episodes)
1998
Vivement dimanche prochain
Self · (1 episode)
1998
Les Enfoirés 1998 - Enfoirés en cœur
1998
Leute heute
Self · (1 episode)
1997
Die Feste mit Florian Silbereisen
Self · (6 episodes)
1994
Musik liegt in der Luft
Self - Singer · (1 episode)
1991
Stars 90
Self · (2 episodes)
1990
Flitterabend
Self - Singer · (1 episode)
1988
Super-Chancen
Mireille Mathieu · (1 episode)
1988
Téléthon
Self · (4 episodes)
1987
Lahaye d'honneur
Self · (1 episode)
1987
Le monde est à vous
Self · (16 episodes)
1987
Sacrée soirée
Self · (8 episodes)
1987
40° à l'ombre
Self · (1 episode)
1987
ZDF-Fernsehgarten
Self · (1 episode)
1986
Victoires de la musique
Self · (1 episode)
1985
Melodien für Millionen
Self · (2 episodes)
1985
Die verflixte 7
Self · (1 episode)
1984
Show & Co. mit Carlo
Self · (1 episode)
1984
Wie wär’s heut’ mit Revue?
Self · (1 episode)
1983
Na sowas!
Self · (1 episode)
1982
Champs-Elysées
Self · (17 episodes)
1982
Reporters
Self
1981
Tag des deutschen Schlagers
Self · (1 episode)
1981
Show-Express
Self · (3 episodes)
1980
Verstehen Sie Spaß?
Self · (2 episodes)
1980
Peter Alexander: Wir gratulieren
Self · (1 episode)
1979
Die Pyramide
Self · (1 episode)
1979
Fan School
Self · (16 episodes)
1977
Auf los geht's los
Self · (2 episodes)
1977
Peter Alexander presents Walt Disney's World
Self - Guest
1976
30 millions d'amis
Self · (1 episode)
1976
Numéro un
Self · (23 episodes)
1975
Numéro un
Self - Host · (6 episodes)
1975
Numéro un
Self (archive footage) · (3 episodes)
1975
Le Petit Rapporteur
Self · (1 episode)
1975
Système 2
Self · (7 episodes)
1975
Les Rendez-vous du dimanche
Self · (15 episodes)
1975
Midi Première
Self · (4 episodes)
1975
Musik ist Trumpf
Self · (2 episodes)
1975
Der große Preis
Self · (2 episodes)
1974
Die Montagsmaler
Self · (3 episodes)
1974
A Slightly Pregnant Man
Mireille Mathieu
1973
Happy New Year
Self
1973
Don-Lurio-Show
Self · (1 episode)
1972
Hätten Sie heut’ Zeit für mich?
Self · (1 episode)
1972
Midi trente
Self · (9 episodes)
1972
Ein Kessel Buntes
Self · (2 episodes)
1972
Le Grand Échiquier
Self · (2 episodes)
1972
Le Grand Échiquier
Self - Main Guest · (1 episode)
1972
Anneliese Rothenberger gibt sich die Ehre
Self · (1 episode)
1971
Cadet Rousselle
Self · (2 episodes)
1971
Dalli Dalli
Self - Singer · (1 episode)
1971
Dalli Dalli
Self · (3 episodes)
1971
Disco
Self · (5 episodes)
1971
Samedi soir
Self · (4 episodes)
1971
Drei mal neun
Self · (1 episode)
1970
Wünsch dir was
Self · (1 episode)
1969
Das Sonntagskonzert
Self · (1 episode)
1969
Peter Alexander präsentiert Spezialitäten
Self · (2 episodes)
1969
Die ZDF-Hitparade
Self · (4 episodes)
1969
Starparade
Self · (6 episodes)
1968
The Journalist
Self
1967
Die Rudi Carrell Show
Self · (1 episode)
1965
Dim Dam Dom
Self · (1 episode)
1965
Der goldene Schuß
Self · (1 episode)
1964
Vergißmeinnicht
Self · (2 episodes)
1964
Die Drehscheibe
Self · (9 episodes)
1964
Einer wird gewinnen
Self · (2 episodes)
1964
The Danny Kaye Show
Self · (1 episode)
1963
The Merv Griffin Show
Self · (1 episode)
1962
The Mike Douglas Show
Self · (1 episode)
1961
Musik aus Studio B
Self · (3 episodes)
1961
Discorama
Self · (4 episodes)
1959
Zum blauen Bock
Self · (3 episodes)
1957
What Am I?
Self · (1 episode)
1955
Bambi-Verleihung
Self · (5 episodes)
1948