I decided to create a blog about the popular European Genre of music known as Yé-yé. Mainly because of it's ever growing obscurity as time has moved forward. A large majority of people have never even heard of the genre nonetheless listened to it. Especially in the United States. Yé-yé music has had a very influential part in the history of what popular music is today and what it will some day evolve into eventually. Also Yé-yé has not only been influential in the evolution of popular music but also has had just as much, if not more, influence on music that has strayed away from the mainstream.




Yé-yé was a popular style of pop music that had emerged from France, Québec and Spain in the early 1960s. The term "yé-yé" derived from teenagers shouting "yeah! yeah!" at concert venues and while listening to the music genre to show enthusiasm. Yé-yé music was unique in a number of ways: first, it was the only musical movement so far to be spearheaded by females; second, it was a mostly European phenomenon, although it grew very popular in Japan in 1965. Yé-yé girls were always young (age 15 through 17 usually) and maintained an innocent public image which was perpetuated through the music.

Yé-yé girls were also sexy, in a deliberately naive way. Often Yé-yé lyrics and music were written by older male songwriters and sometimes would contain sexually suggestive themes and lyrics hidden in metaphors that were meant to sound innocent. A good example of this is featured in a song preformed by France Gall and written my famous Yé-yé singer/ songwriter Serge Gainsbourg called "Les sucettes" ("Lollipops") which include the lyrics "Annie loves lollipops, aniseed lollipops, when the sweet liquid runs down Annie's throat, she is in paradise." Due to France Gall's naivety as a young women she preformed the song never recognizing the hidden reference to fellatio until becoming a little older.



While the yé-yé movement was led by female singers, it was not an exclusively a movement for young women. The yé-yé masterminds (such as Serge Gainsbourg, who wrote several hits for France Gall, Petula Clark, and Brigitte Bardot, but was considerably older and came from a jazz background) were distinct from the actual yé-yé singers. These were harmless, romantic boys singing mostly ballads and love songs.

In this blog I will also touch on more topics than just Yé-yé artists and music exclusively. I will also write about some of the influences the music and culture has had on art, fashion and what the genre has contributed to music that would come to proceed Yé-yé. If you are interested please follow my blog and participate by adding comments and I will do my best to post music and related topics almost everyday.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Liz Brady



Liz Brady (not her real name) was born on January 5th 1940 in a small suburb of Cairo known as Raymonde Fleurat in Heliopolis, Egypt. Her father was French and her mother was half Greek as well as half Italian. I have done research in order to find the name Liz Brady had been given when she was born but to no avail. Her name remains a mystery to many Yé-yé fans and To everyone else Liz and her career remains a mystery, period.

Egyptian-born singer Liz Brady’s image was a complete fabrication. In a bid to lend her a cool Carnaby Street edge, her French record label gave her an English-sounding stage name and a false British heritage. Despite this and the consistently high quality of her records, things didn’t really work out for her in France and she ended up moving to Quebec, where she enjoyed great success as half of duo Les Scarabées.

She grew up a very well educated young lady and learned to speak multiple languages. She spoke fluent Arabic, French, Greek and Italian. As a teenager, her family moved to a British colony in Kenya where she learned to speak English fluently. She was obviously a very fast learner, especially when it came to linguistics.

She arrived in Paris In 1964 and was immediately offered a recording contract with the Pathé record label. London was the the epicenter of all things cool and given that fact that she already held a British passport and spoke French with a very distinct English accent, it was decided, by the powers that be, she should be perceived to be English. She was given the stage name Liz Brady and an English father was invented for publicity. They also trimmed a very generous Six years off of Liz's age.








 

11 comments:

  1. Showing my DAILY support,I REALLY need yours aswell!!

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  2. great woman great music great blog ;)

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  3. cool!suppin bro :)
    check both my blogs are interesting! ;)

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  4. @ye-yepop
    thanks for the info dude. appreciate it.
    btw, i stumbled upon this song called poupée de cire, poupée de son. haha, i can't describe how i felt about it though. i don't like it but i don't dislike it. the weird part is i can't stop humming it! lol

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  5. goddamnit! now that damn song is stuck in my head!
    sacre charlemagne! sacre charlemagne! sacre charlemagne! sacre charlemagne! sacre charlemagne! sacre charlemagne! sacre charlemagne! sacre charlemagne! sacre charlemagne! sacre charlemagne! sacre charlemagne! sacre charlemagne! sacre charlemagne!

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