SV
Sylvie Vartan
ActorBorn August 15, 1944 (81 years)
Sylvie Vartan (born Sylvie Georges Vartanian on 15 August 1944) is a Bulgarian-Armenian-French singer and actress. She is known as one of the most productive and tough-sounding yé-yé artists. Her performances often featured elaborate show-dance choreography,[and she made many appearances on French and Italian TV.
Yearly shows with then-husband Johnny Hallyday attracted full houses at the Olympia and the Palais des congrès de Paris throughout the 1960s and mid-1970s. In 2004, after a break in performances, she began recording and giving concerts of jazz ballads in francophone countries.
Sylvie Vartan was born in Iskrets, Sofia Province, in the then Kingdom of Bulgaria. Her father, Georges Vartanian (1912–1970), was born in France to a Bulgarian mother named Slavka and an Armenian father. He worked as an attaché at the French embassy in Sofia. The family shortened the name Vartanian to Vartan. Her mother, Ilona (née Mayer 1914–2007), daughter of prominent architect Rudolf Mayer, was of Hungarian-Jewish descent.
When the Soviet Army invaded Bulgaria in September 1944, the Vartanian family house was nationalised and they moved to Sofia. In 1952, a friend of Sylvie's father, film director Dako Dakovski, offered her the role of a schoolgirl in the movie Pod igoto, a film about Bulgarian rebels against the Ottoman occupation. Participating in the film made her dream of becoming an entertainer come true.
The hardships of postwar Bulgaria made the family emigrate to Paris in December 1952. At first they stayed in the Lion d'Argent hotel near Les Halles, where Georges found a job, then for the next four years they stayed in a single room at the Angleterre Hotel. Young Sylvie had to work hard to keep up at school and blend in with her schoolmates. She spent two years learning French.
In 1960, her family moved to an apartment in Michel Bizot Avenue. Thanks to the influence of her music producer brother Eddie, music became teenage Sylvie's main interest. Her most influential genres were jazz and, out of spite toward her strict high school, rock 'n' roll. Her favourite artists included Brenda Lee, Bill Haley, and Elvis Presley.
In 1961, Eddie offered Sylvie the chance to record the song "Panne d'essence" with French rocker Frankie Jordan. The Decca Records EP was a surprise hit. Although she was not credited on the sleeve, "Panne d'essence" provided Vartan her first appearance on French television. The journalists gave her the nickname la collégienne du twist. After the "twisting schoolgirl" had finished the Victor Hugo High School, she was free to sign a contract with Decca Records to start recording her own EP; carrying the title song "Quand le film est triste", a cover of Sue Thompson's "Sad Movies (Make Me Cry)", the EP was on sale by the beginning of December 1961. ...
Source: Article "Sylvie Vartan" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.
Yearly shows with then-husband Johnny Hallyday attracted full houses at the Olympia and the Palais des congrès de Paris throughout the 1960s and mid-1970s. In 2004, after a break in performances, she began recording and giving concerts of jazz ballads in francophone countries.
Sylvie Vartan was born in Iskrets, Sofia Province, in the then Kingdom of Bulgaria. Her father, Georges Vartanian (1912–1970), was born in France to a Bulgarian mother named Slavka and an Armenian father. He worked as an attaché at the French embassy in Sofia. The family shortened the name Vartanian to Vartan. Her mother, Ilona (née Mayer 1914–2007), daughter of prominent architect Rudolf Mayer, was of Hungarian-Jewish descent.
When the Soviet Army invaded Bulgaria in September 1944, the Vartanian family house was nationalised and they moved to Sofia. In 1952, a friend of Sylvie's father, film director Dako Dakovski, offered her the role of a schoolgirl in the movie Pod igoto, a film about Bulgarian rebels against the Ottoman occupation. Participating in the film made her dream of becoming an entertainer come true.
The hardships of postwar Bulgaria made the family emigrate to Paris in December 1952. At first they stayed in the Lion d'Argent hotel near Les Halles, where Georges found a job, then for the next four years they stayed in a single room at the Angleterre Hotel. Young Sylvie had to work hard to keep up at school and blend in with her schoolmates. She spent two years learning French.
In 1960, her family moved to an apartment in Michel Bizot Avenue. Thanks to the influence of her music producer brother Eddie, music became teenage Sylvie's main interest. Her most influential genres were jazz and, out of spite toward her strict high school, rock 'n' roll. Her favourite artists included Brenda Lee, Bill Haley, and Elvis Presley.
In 1961, Eddie offered Sylvie the chance to record the song "Panne d'essence" with French rocker Frankie Jordan. The Decca Records EP was a surprise hit. Although she was not credited on the sleeve, "Panne d'essence" provided Vartan her first appearance on French television. The journalists gave her the nickname la collégienne du twist. After the "twisting schoolgirl" had finished the Victor Hugo High School, she was free to sign a contract with Decca Records to start recording her own EP; carrying the title song "Quand le film est triste", a cover of Sue Thompson's "Sad Movies (Make Me Cry)", the EP was on sale by the beginning of December 1961. ...
Source: Article "Sylvie Vartan" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.
Filmography
| 2025 | 25 ans de Laurent Gerra à la radio · as Self : Guest |
| 2025 | Once Upon My Mother · as Sylvie Vartan |
| 2024 | Les étoiles de l'ombre: Michel Mallory · as Self |
| 2023 | Unknown Beauty: François Nars · as Self |
| 2023 | L'Âge d'or de la pub · as Self (archive Footage) |
| 2023 | Beau Geste (TV Series) · as Self |
| 2023 | Sheila, toutes ces vies-là · as Self (archive Footage) |
| 2022 | Souvenir d'Italie · as Self |
| 2022 | Quelle époque ! (TV Series) · as Self |
| 2022 | Paul McCartney - Eine Beatles-Legende · as Self |
| 2022 | La TV des 70's : Quand Giscard était président · as Self (archive Footage) |
| 2021 | My Name Is Lopez · as Self |
| 2019 | The Secret Box (TV Series) · as Self |
| 2018 | The Secret Song (TV Series) · as Self |
| 2017 | Ça commence aujourd'hui (TV Series) · as Self |
| 2016 | Quotidien (TV Series) · as Self - Guest |
| 2014 | |
| 2012 | Il est minuit, Paris s'éveille · as Self |
| 2012 | The France 5 Gallery (TV Series) · as Self |
| 2012 | Becoming the Beatles · as Self |
| 2011 | Stars Animals (TV Series) · as Self |
| 2011 | 8:30 p.m. on Sunday (TV Series) · as Self |
| 2010 | It's Only TV (TV Series) · as Self |
| 2009 | C à Vous (TV Series) · as Self - Guest |
| 2008 | The Unseen Beatles · as Self |
| 2007 | One Day, One Fate (TV Series) · as Self |
| 2006 | On n'est pas couché (TV Series) · as Self - Guest |
| 2004 | Le grand journal de Canal+ (TV Series) · as Self |
| 2003 | 20h10 pétantes (TV Series) · as Self |
| 2001 | Star Academy (TV Series) · as Self |
| 2001 | En aparté (TV Series) · as Self - Guest |
| 2000 | L'invité (TV Series) · as Self |
| 2000 | Qui veut gagner des millions ? (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1999 | Johnny Hallyday: Parc des Princes · as Self |
| 1998 | Le plus grand Cabaret du monde (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1998 | We Can't Wait for Next Sunday (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1998 | Roll on Sunday (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1994 | Les enfants de la télé (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1993 | Taratata 100% Live (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1990 | Viva el espectáculo (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1989 | Envoyé spécial (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1987 | NPA (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1985 | Les Victoires de la Musique (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1985 | Le Jeu de la vérité (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1985 | Today (FR) (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1982 | Champs-Elysees (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1977 | All You Need Is Love: The Story of Popular Music (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1976 | César Awards (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1975 | Number One (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1975 | Système 2 (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1975 | Sunday meetings (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1975 | Midi-Première (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1973 | Klimbim (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1972 | The Music Shop (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1972 | Midi Trente (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1972 | Top to ... (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1971 | Cadet Rousselle (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1970 | Aujourd'hui Madame (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1968 | Challenge in the Snow · as Self |
| 1968 | Les poneyttes · as Sylvie Vartan |
| 1966 | Au risque de vous plaire (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1966 | The Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1966 | Paris aktuell (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1965 | Dim Dam Dom (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1965 | Hullabaloo! (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1964 | ABC's Nightlife (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1964 | Shindig (TV Series) · as Self - Singer |
| 1964 | Cherchez l'idole · as Sylvie Vartan |
| 1963 | Ready Steady Go! (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1963 | Just for Fun · as Self |
| 1962 | The Merv Griffin Show (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1961 | The Mike Douglas Show (TV Series) · as Self - Vocalist |
| 1961 | Age tendre et tête de bois (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1959 | Juke Box Jury (TV Series) · as Self - Panellist |
| 1959 | Télé-Dimanche (TV Series) · as Self |