Jo

At the time, we did not know that music-wise, her heydays were over. But around 1985, Jo Lemaire was a frightful, but also very appealing singer. She was originally from La Wallonie, the French-speaking part of Belgium, but was involved with a Flemish-speaking countryman Fa Vanham, who lived near the Dutch border and who boasted that he wrote a new song every day. Together, they wrote two really good albums: Concorde, and Jo Lemaire. The appeal and frightfulness of Jo lay in her looks; as if Siouxsie Sioux was casted in a Godard-movie. It's been 20 years, so my memories aren't very accurate, but seeing her live that day on the famous Easter-popfestival in my hometown, was like seeing a paper doll step off the page. She sang her best-known songs, like the soulful Tentations, synthipoppy Parfum de Rêve and Je Suis Venue Te Dire Que Je M'En Vais, one of the most beautiful Serge-covers ever made. Serge needed a crying girl to emphasize the harshness of the song, Jo's icey-cool voice alone felt like a stiletto-heel into your heart.
After the mostly English album Stand Up (always a bad sign, when French singers go English, see Keren Ann's Not Going Anywhere), her star began to fade. She broke up with Fa, who later became a soundengineer in Maastricht, a Dutch town I used to live in (and still is the hometown of Mme. Guuzbourg). Nowadays Jo's a well-respected artist, who mostly sings classic French chansons and who celebrated being an artist for 25 years in 2004. But is more fondly remembered for sending shivers down my spine, back in the day.

Jo Lemaire - Je Suis Venue Te Dire Que Je M'En Vais
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Jo Lemaire - Parfum de Rêve
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