Annette Lajon

Performer of "L'Étranger " and other pre-war hits, Annette Lajon was born in Paris on May 26, 1901. A mezzo-soprano singer, she sang the title role in Carmen at the Opéra-Comique before meeting composer Reynaldo Hahn in 1934 at a gala concert at the Salle Pleyel. On the latter's advice, she turned to song, starting with a series of concerts in the south of France, then in Paris, where she began with small venues and triumphed at the Théâtre de l'Étoile and Bobino. It was at Bobino that she premiered a song by Marguerite Monnot, Robert Juel and Robert Malleron, "L'Étranger", which won her the Grand Prix du Disque in 1936. Contrary to the custom of the time, the "Môme" Édith Piaf immediately added it to her repertoire, and Annette Lajon introduced her to Marguerite Monnot, who was to become her favorite partner. Meanwhile, Annette Lajon scored her biggest hits in 1934 with "Mon cœur est léger" and "Trop de soirs ont passé", followed by "Pour un peu de bonheur" and "France " (1935), "Quand vous voudrez " (1936) and "Mon p'tit kaki " (1939), just as the Second World War was looming on the horizon, during which her popularity continued unabated. Before becoming a Resistance heroine, Annette Lajon sang "J'ai perdu d'avance" (1940), "Inquiétude", "On s'aimera quelques jours" and "Il m'avait promis" (1941), "Pourquoi t'en aller" and what remains one of her most popular tunes, "Chanson gitane " (1942), by Louis Poterat and Maurice Yvain. After the war, she recorded "Boléro nostalgique " (1947), still a favorite with audiences, as well as "C'est le plaisir que j'aime " and "C'est la fête au village" in the late 1950s. Subsequently, new voices supplanted the realist singers in her register, and Annette Lajon, still a favorite at the Prada Concert in 1955, retired from the stage a few years later, on the cusp of the yé-yé wave. Somewhat forgotten, she died in Paris on February 19, 1984, at the age of 83.