Do you know who Dalida is? If not, she’s probably the most famous pop singer you never heard of.
She was born Iolanda Cristina Gigliotto in Cairo, Egypt in 1933, to Italian parents.
A great beauty, she won the Miss Egypt contest in 1954, went on to be a model and also landed some minor film roles. In 1954, she moved to Paris to further pursue her film career but failed to impress film directors and producers. Not wanting to give up, she tried singing, and studied with a strict teacher, seven days a week until she progressed far enough to land a stint at a well-known cabaret on the Champs Elysees.
During this period in 1955, Dalida’s next door neighbor was a handsome, aspiring actor, Alain Delon, with whom she had a brief fling with, and they later sang a duet together.
Her big break moment came literally came from the role of the dice. Two men, one who was one of the biggest music producers in France, and the other, an artistic director of a top radio station, couldn’t agree on whether they should attend a film or a live singing contest, so they played the dice game 421, and the winner decided to attend the singing competition. The rest is history, as they say. Dalida won the contest, and the two men and another friend, who was also in the music industry, were responsible for launching her remarkable career.
In her four-decade career, she sold over 170,000,000 records, topping the music charts with scores of #1 hits and sold out concert venues all over Europe and the Middle-East. One of the reasons for her broad appeal was that she sang in many languages including French, English, Arabic, Italian, Hebrew, Greek, and German. She also appeared in some films and frequently on television.
Dalida seemed to have it all- fame, fortune, and good looks, but her personal life was filled with heartbreak and tragedy. In 1967, one of her lovers committed suicide, because the song he wrote, which Dalida performed in a song competition, was eliminated before the final competition. In response, she attempted suicide in the Prince des Galles Hotel in Paris and spent five days in a coma and a long convalescence afterward. The same year, she was impregnated by a 22-year-old university student, but had an abortion, which left her infertile. Her former husband, with whom she maintained a good relationship with, committed suicide in 1970 and in 1975, a close, musician friend jumped to his death from an apartment in Paris. Mired in death, Dalida, at age 54, succumbed to suicide on May 3, 1987, by taking an overdose of barbiturates, and leaving a note: "La vie m'est insupportable... Pardonnez-moi." ("Life is unbearable for me... Forgive me.").
Dalida lived in a Art Nouveau house in Montmartre, which was a quiet refuge from her troubled personal life. She was beloved by her neighbors, and a square was named in her honor, displaying a bronze bust of her. She is buried in the Montmartre Cemetery in an elaborate tombstone of granite and marble, with an angelic, full sized statue of her. It’s always filled with flowers, trinkets, and candles left by her fans.
As famous as she was in Europe, Dalida for some inexplicable reason, never became a crossover artist in the U. S. When I give my Montmartre tour, telling Dailida’s story and pointing out her house, 99% of the time clients don’t know who she is. I didn’t know of her either until I moved to Paris. In 1988 a poll published in Le Monde newspaper listed the personalities who had the greatest impact on French society; Dalida was second, after Charles de Gaulle.
Also a style and fashion icon, Dalida dressed glamorously on stage and off. In 2017, there was an exhibition displaying her wardrobe, lent to a museum by her brother Orlando, who stored much of her clothing. Here’s the link to the blog post I wrote about it.
https://www.ipreferparis.net/2017/05/dalida-exhibit-her-wardrobe-on-and-off-stage.html
Here are YouTube videos of Dalida in all her glory.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYAvhujK4nA&list=RDLYAvhujK4nA&start_radio=1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFOe5sGnQK0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-plSWy_Gno
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xL_7mlOfAoA&list=RDxL_7mlOfAoA&start_radio=1&t=40
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN2mxivM8Bo&list=RDNN2mxivM8Bo&index=1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnrCwkByuAo&list=RDxL_7mlOfAoA&index=9
There’s also an excellent biopic, Dalida, from 2017. You can rent it on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077W2VWY3/ref=atv_feed_catalog?tag=rottetomao_aiv_mv-20
May in Paris- My Marais Apartment for Rent May 12 to May 23
I am renting my Marais loft from May 12 to May 23. May is one of the nicest months in Paris, with temperatures in the low 70s Fahrenheit during the day and low 60s at night. All the gardens and flowers are in bloom, the outdoor cafes bustling, and lots of cultural events.
Minimum rental period is 7 days/one week, price 1500€ for 7 days/one week, 1900€ for 11 days-May 12-23.
Conveniently located by the Saint Paul metro, in the heart of the Marais, the apartment is a spacious one-bedroom 750 sq. ft. loft with 12 ft. ceilings, decorated in chic Mid-Century Modern furniture and sleeps two people in a Queen size bed. Amenities include washer/dryer, 16" flat screen TV, dishwasher, internet connection/Wifi and free long distance calls to the U.S. The apartment is located on the second floor with a large elevator
Please email me at [email protected] if you are interested.
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