Isabelle Aubret

Isabelle is the fifth of eleven children. Her father was a foreman in a spinning mill; her mother, of Ukrainian origin, was a housewife.

She is married to Gérard Meys.

In 2001, she celebrated her forty-year career by giving a series of concerts in Bobino.

In 1952, at the age of fourteen, she left school and was hired as a winder in the Lemaire-Destombes factory in Saint-André, where her father worked. A few years later, she returned to this spinning mill to sing in the theater of her family house, as part of a radio program. She continued to take drama and classical dance classes. The same year, she won the French Gymnastics Championship.

At the same time, she participated in local singing competitions. Her drama teacher introduced her to the director of a Lille radio station and she took the stage for the first time. She sang in ensembles and in 1956, at the age of 18, she joined an orchestra in Le Havre.

In 1960, she won a singing competition, organized at the Olympia. She was noticed by the director of the room, Bruno Coquatrix.

In 1963, she was approached by the director Jacques Demy and the musician Michel Legrand for the main role of the film "Les Parapluie de Cherbourg." But she was the victim of a serious car accident, her car had skidded in a bend. There was one dead, André Duclos, 33, and three seriously injured, including pianist Serge Sentis. Hospitalized in Autun, Isabelle went through multiple operations and had a very long rehabilitation ahead.

In 1981, Isabelle had another accident. She was rehearsing a flying trapeze number for the Union des artistes gala, with her partner, boxer Jean-Claude Bouttier, when she fell. She broke both legs and remained disabled for a long time. It would eventually take two long years of rehabilitation to regain the use of her legs and walk again.