Dear Erica: I cannot wait to read your article on the real and fake Piaf singers and American-Parisian songs recording artists in the United States. Boy, they are so many singers who pretend to be a real French cabaret singer. Here in Las Vegas, they are by the dozens. I am telling you they present themselves as the real thing and they sing every night at the best casinos. How they do it? I have no clues. So are you going to crack down on them? Put some heat! Elly Shlomo, Las Vegas, USA.

Photo: The legendary Jeanne Aubert.

 Elly, we are not going to crack down on anybody. This is not our policy. If they are fake, I pity their audiences. The article shall focus on the real and authentic French cabaret singers in the United States.The article will feature authentic cabaret stars. Artists who made their mark on cabaret repertoire and audiences on a national and international level. Among the featured artists are Raquel Bitton, Debbie de Coudreaux,  and particularly the sensational Debbie Boiley who spent almost four years playing in cabarets in Paris and London. She returned to the U.S. in 1998.

Photo: Raquel Bitton in concert

She is considered as one of the very few authentic cabaret singers and entertainers in the United States. She received numerous awards including the 1999 Houston Press award for "Best Comeback" to town. Debbie Boiley has class and talent. She has her own style and particular cache. She sang Piaf, Brel and other famous Parisian masters of the cabaret in Europe and in America.

 One of her brilliant creations is her own show “Ce Soir Cabaret”. The article will feature authentic cabaret stars. Artists who made their mark on cabaret repertoire and audiences on a national and international level. Among the featured artists are Raquel Bitton, Debbie de Coudreaux,  and particularly the sensational Debbie Boiley who spent almost four years playing in cabarets in Paris and London. She returned to the U.S. in 1998. She is considered as one of the very few authentic cabaret singers and entertainers in the United States. She received numerous awards including the 1999 Houston Press award for "Best Comeback" to town. Debbie Boiley has class and talent. She has her own style and particular cache. She sang Piaf, Brel and other famous Parisian masters of the cabaret in Europe and in America. One of her brilliant creations is her own show “Ce Soir Cabaret”. At the same time she sang the songs of French composers less well known to American audiences, but beloved by the French, such as Gilbert Becaud and Serge Lama.” Debbie adds: “ “This was shaped in part by a childhood spent in the French Quarter of New Orleans with a painter father who served in France in World War II and a mother of French descent who continually exclaimed "How wonderful to be French!"  She initially built her show and reputation in Houston around French songs, often performing at clubs like Ovations and then taking them to the Fringe Festivals in Canada and to Eighty-Eight's in New York. She sang the songs of Jacques Brel, Charles Aznavour, Michel Legrand and of course Edith Piaf, to whom she is often compared because of her petite stature, but intensely emotional vocal interpretations. Debbie explained: "I always wanted to be French," she says, so four years ago she went out on a limb (hence the title of her show) and moved to Paris to sing. But the French did not want to hear her French songs as much as they wanted to hear her selections from the great American Songbook. So, she expanded her repertoire.  Now, her performances offer a blend of French songs, classic American popular music (Gershwin, Rodgers and Hart, for example), and wonderful new "standards of the future" as Debbie calls them, by writers not yet household names.

Photo: The legendary Damia.

"What is so ironic" Debbie chuckles, "is that once I got to France, I rekindled my interest in singing in my own language, and have been doing so exclusively these last few years.  But I look forward to reviving my French songs and I'm even learning several new ones."  We will be writing at length about this superb artist and her remarkable performances in several productions, particularly about her world premiere “Piaf in Vienna”, a play written for her by Brad Korbesmeyer”, and  "Out on a Limb", a musical play which  was highly praised by the international media, including The Stage (London) which wrote: "There is no denying the quality of her voice or the standard of her musical taste. One thing she has in abundance is talent." We were very charmed and impressed by her CD “ French Collection”. This is a sensational album. It includes a refreshing bouquet of songs by Yves Montand,  Edith Piaf, Jacques Brel, Charles Aznavour, Michel Legrand and Serge Lam, among many other giants of the “La Chanson Francaise”.  De Lafayette wrote about Debbie’s CD: “One of the most authentic and formidable recordings of French music in a decade. Magnificent at many levels. Nobody can sing Brel’s Marieke and  ”D'Aventure en Aventure, de Train en Train” like Ms. Boiley. In brief, this is a superb CD. Rating: Four Stars. Two thumbs Up!”

Photo : Juliette Gréco

One of the most fascinating aspects of the article is the historical synopsis of French singers of the golden era who defined what “La Chanson Française” is all about. Stars like Damia, Fréhel, Berthe Sylva, Mistinguett, Yvette Gilbert, Esther Lekain, Danielle Darrieux, Dranem, Polin, Botrel, Mayol, Lucienne Boyer, Yvonne Printemps, Juliette Gréco, Jeanne Aubert, etc… The reason for writing this article is to pay homage to remarkable American and Canadian singers of "La Chanson Francaise"; superb artists like Raquel Bitton, Juliette Koka, Anna Bergman, Cindy Benson, Joelle Rabu, Claudia Hommel, Liesl Muller, Debbie de Coudreaux, Carol Rossio, etc.

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