imported>Kjell Knudde: Added more categories.

2025-05-10T10:49:19Z

Added more categories.

New page

{{Short description|French singer and actress}}
{{More citations needed|date=April 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{Infobox person
|image = Patachou (1961).jpg
|image_size =
|caption = Patachou in 1961
| name = Patachou
| birth_name = Henriette Ragon
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1918|6|10|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Paris]], [[France]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2015|4|30|1918|6|10}}
| death_place = [[Neuilly-sur-Seine]], France
| occupation = Singer, actress
| spouse = Jean Billon,
Arthur Lesser
| children = Pierre Billon}}

'''Henriette Ragon''' (10 June 1918 – 30 April 2015), better known as '''Patachou''', was a French singer and actress, best-known for popularizing [[Georges Brassens]] songs by singing them before he became famous. She was an Officier of the [[Légion d'honneur]].

==Biography==

===Early life===
Born in the [[12th arrondissement of Paris]], Henriette Ragon began her working life as a typist, then a factory worker, a shoeseller and an antique dealer.

===Patachou===
In 1948, with her husband Jean Billon she took over a cabaret-restaurant in [[Montmartre]], called Patachou. (Their son Pierre Billon had some success as a singer in the 1970s and wrote ''J'ai oublié de vivre'' for [[Johnny Hallyday]].) She began to sing in the bistro, and journalists began to call her Patachou after the name of her cabaret (pâte-à-choux means cream puff dough). [[Georges Brassens]] sang there, and together they sang the duet "Maman, papa". She was the first to interpret other songs he composed such as "Le bricoleur", "La chasse aux papillons", etc.

The evening she sang them for the first time, she suggested her audience stay to the end of the show and meet the writer of these songs, and Brassens went up on to the Patachou stage for the first time and sang '' [[Le Gorille]]'' and ''P..de toi''. Sometimes she would collect half-ties (she would snip the neckties of customers reluctant to join in the singing and immediately staple them to the ceiling, a habit which has created a very original decor of the place - hundreds of neckties hanging above) – [[Thomas Dewey]] and [[Errol Flynn]] were among her victims.<ref>Sleeve notes from the Philips release 'Les Grandes Chansons/Patachou</ref>

===Touring===
She appeared at the [[Bobino]], a [[Montparnasse]] music-hall, toured in France and then further afield. From 1953 onwards, she could be seen on-stage at the [[London Palladium|Palladium]], the [[Waldorf-Astoria Hotel|Waldorf Astoria]], and [[Carnegie Hall]], and throughout the United States.
From the beginning of the 1970s she toured Japan and Sweden where 'L'eternal Parigot', with her cheeky Parisian register, was popular.

===Death===
Patachou died on 30 April 2015 at the age of 96.<ref>[http://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/2015/04/30/97001-20150430FILWWW00326-patachou-est-morte.php La chanteuse Patachou est morte], ''[[Le Figaro]]''.</ref><ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11577172/Patachou-chanteuse-obituary.html Patachou, chanteuse - obituary]</ref>

==Awards==
Patachou was made Officier of the [[Légion d'honneur]] on 1 January 2009<ref>[http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/2009/01/01/01016-20090101ARTFIG00231-simone-veil-zidane-et-lagardere-decores-.php La Légion d'honneur du Nouvel An], ''[[Le Figaro]]''.</ref>

==Recordings==
Her first records were released in 1952 on [[Philips Records|Philips]]. In the mid-1950s she began recording albums for [[CBS Records International|CBS]]. In the latter 1950s she began recording on the [[Audio Fidelity]] label.

==Filmography==
*1952: ''Jouons le jeu'' - la chanteuse (segments 'L'avarice' and 'La fidélité')
*1953: ''[[Women of Paris]]'' (by [[Jean Boyer (director)|Jean Boyer]], Patachou sings "[[Brave Margot]]" by [[Georges Brassens]]) - Herself - Chanteuse
*1955: ''[[Napoléon (1955 film)|Napoléon]]'' - Madame Sans-Gêne
*1955: ''[[French Cancan]]'' (1955) - Yvette Guilbert
*1983: ''[[Le disparu du 7 octobre]]'' (TV Movie, by [[Jacques Ertaud]]) - Blanche Auroux
*1986: ''Faubourg St Martin'' - Madame Coppercage
*1987: ''[[la Rumba]]'' (by [[Roger Hanin]]) - Madame Meyrals
*1990: ''Le champignon des Carpathes'' - Madame Ambrogiano
*1990: ''Les matins chagrins'' - Alice
*1990: ''Night of the Fox'' (TV Movie)
*1992: ''Chasse gardée'' - Madame Cygne
*1993: ''{{Interlanguage link multi|Cible émouvante|fr}}'' (by [[Pierre Salvadori]]) - Madame Meynard
*1993: ''[[Les Grandes Marées]]'' (TV Mini-Series, by [[Jean Sagols]]) - Sophie Leclerc
*1999: ''[[Pola X]]'' (by [[Leos Carax]]) - Marguerite
*2000: ''[[Drôle de Félix]]'' (by [[Olivier Ducastel]] and [[Jacques Martineau]]) - Mathilde, Grandmother
*2000: ''[[Actors (film)|Les Acteurs]]'' (by [[Bertrand Blier]]) - Blind old lady
*2001: ''[[Belphegor, Phantom of the Louvre|Belphégor, le fantôme du Louvre]]'' (by [[Jean-Paul Salomé]]) - Geneviève
*2004: ''[[San-Antonio (film)|San-Antonio]]'' (by [[Frédéric Auburtin]]) - Ruth Booz

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1918 births]]
[[Category:2015 deaths]]
[[Category:Musicians from Paris]]
[[Category:French film actresses]]
[[Category:French humorists]]
[[Category:French women humorists]]
[[Category:French comedy musicians]]
[[Category:Officers of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:Audio Fidelity Records artists]]
[[Category:20th-century French women singers]]

Patachou - Revision history

imported>Kjell Knudde: Added more categories.