Nicole Paquin

One of France's first female rock singers, Nicole Paquin was born in Paris on March 7, 1939. Her real name was Nicole Desbiolles-Brüninghaus, and she launched her musical career in 1958, singing rock'n'roll adaptations such as "Comme un clou", the French version of Elvis Presley's "Stuck on You", and "Dis-lui que je l'aime", written by Richard Anthony after Bobby Darin's "Somebody to Love", on a first EP released by Polydor in 1961. On the next one, recorded the same year, Nicole Paquin again sings Bobby Darin with "Oui je t'aime" ("Let Me Love You"), as well as "Mon mari c'est Frankenstein", written by Phil Spector and Ahmet Ertegun for The Castle Kings ("You Can Get Him Frankenstein"). Also in 1961, she appeared in two films, Jean-Luc Godard's Une femme est une femme alongside Jean-Paul Belmondo, Anna Karina and Jeanne Moreau, in which she played the role of a stripper, and Maurice Cazeneuve's L'Exécution, broadcast on January 29, 1961, in which she was nude from behind for 15 seconds, provoking controversy that led to the introduction of the "white square" to warn audiences of adult content. After taking a break from rock to become a music journalist for Cinémonde magazine, Nicole Paquin returned to song in 1966 with the EP Les Minets, for which she wrote all four lyrics. She also wrote for singers Marie-Claude and Alain Kan in 1964. On April 22, 2011, Nicole Paquin died in Annemasse (Haute-Savoie), at the age of 72.