Sylvie Vartan is a Bulgarian-French singer and actress. She is known as one of the most productive and tough-sounding yé-yé artists. Her performances often featured elaborate show-dance choreography, and she made many appearances on French and Italian TV.
Vartan at the 2011 Cabourg Film Festival
Vartan in 1962
Vartan in March 1966
Vartan in 1966
Yé-yé or yeyé was a style of pop music that emerged in Western-Southern Europe in the early 1960s. The French term yé-yé was derived from the English "yeah! yeah!", popularized by British beat music bands such as the Beatles. The style expanded worldwide as the result of the success of figures such as French singer-songwriters Sylvie Vartan, Serge Gainsbourg and Françoise Hardy. Yé-yé was a particular form of counterculture that derived most of its inspiration from British and American rock and roll. Additional stylistic elements of yé-yé song composition include baroque, exotica, pop, jazz and the French chanson.
Françoise Hardy (left) meeting Princess Margriet of the Netherlands at the Grand Gala du Disque of 1963.
Serge Gainsbourg, France Gall and Mario del Monaco at the Eurovision Song Contest 1965, where "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" took the award.