I studied film for a year at the University of Warwick in England and that's where I stumbled across a treasure-trove of UK (the beginnings of Britpop) and Europop.
I kept hearing the UK Top Ten single 'Be My Baby' out and about at stores or on the radio. It sounded like a modern-day Supremes song, so I had to find out who sang it. It was Vanessa Paradis, a French singer/model/actress who had become famous at 14 for singing 'Joe Le Taxi' a song that spent three months as a Number One single in France in 1987. The video has a bit of Six Flags Make Your Own Music Video vibe about it:
After appearing in a famous Chanel ad:
And having French legend Serge Gainsbourg write a full album for her while still a teenager (I'm sure there was nothing salacious about his intent), she hooked up with (creatively and romantically) Lenny Kravitz and recorded her first English-language album, 1992's self-titled collection, written almost entirely by Kravitz. The album, like a lot of Kravitz's work, tries hard to recreate an authentic '60s/'70s RnB/funk/pop sound. Her light, airy voice is no powerhouse talent, but it's fluffy and fun and makes you wish Kravitz did more music like this, instead of his constant attempts to do "ROCK."
The girl-group cute Be My Baby:
The Monkees-style 'Sunday Mondays':
The Madonna-like 'Future Song'
She went on to do more albums (mainly French language) and act, but she never came back to that English-language pop crossover moment again.
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