The Backwards Multilingual Singing Career of Jeanette
Because the USA market for music is so huge, singers from other countries are always trying to break in, abandoning their native languages for English.
Maurice Chevalier. Charles Aznavour. Julio Iglesias. Shakira. The list goes on and on.
What's stranger is someone who abandons a career singing in native English to become a star abroad.
Such was the case of Jeanette.
Born in the UK and raised in America, she tried to be a folkie.
But failing that, she moved to Europe and became a great success, singing mostly in Spanish.
Of course, looking like a beautiful flower child didn't hurt!
Maurice Chevalier. Charles Aznavour. Julio Iglesias. Shakira. The list goes on and on.
What's stranger is someone who abandons a career singing in native English to become a star abroad.
Such was the case of Jeanette.
Born in the UK and raised in America, she tried to be a folkie.
But failing that, she moved to Europe and became a great success, singing mostly in Spanish.
Of course, looking like a beautiful flower child didn't hurt!
Comments
Seeing as how her mother was Spanish, her father Belgian, she was born in England and lived in Spain from the age of 12 I wouldn´t consider her career as "foreign"
Posted by F.U.D. on 09/22/13 at 12:30 PM
Usted sabe que en la 😜
Posted by BrokeDad in Midwest US on 09/22/13 at 01:16 PM
Excellent points, FUD. But I still think it's weird to go from the larger market--as a folk singer--to the smaller one--as a chanteuse. Though of course such a strategy not unknown with artists. Black US jazz musicians often found greater success in Europe, as did mystery writer Chester Himes and of course, the role model, Josephine Baker.
Posted by Paul on 09/22/13 at 01:29 PM
She preferred being a large fish in a small pond apparently.
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 09/22/13 at 02:58 PM
Native speakers: Spanish - 410 million. BIG pond.
Posted by F.U.D. on 09/22/13 at 03:20 PM
FUD--it should be mentioned that at the time of Jeanette's transition, the Spanish-speaking market was not quite the same large and dominant force it is today.
Posted by Paul on 09/22/13 at 09:19 PM
@Patty: μ2
μ is the lower case Greek letter "M" which is pronounced "ME" not "MOO" or "MEU". So μ2 reads as Me2. Get it!?! 😜
μ is the lower case Greek letter "M" which is pronounced "ME" not "MOO" or "MEU". So μ2 reads as Me2. Get it!?! 😜
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 09/22/13 at 11:49 PM
It´s still unrealistic to consider her "small time and foreign"
Posted by F.U.D. on 09/23/13 at 02:28 AM
Got it! :cheese:
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 09/23/13 at 10:30 PM
As we've seen before (Eurovision choices) Europeans have some questionable music tastes.
The other night at a bar I had selected some classics from Springsteen, Petty, Dire Straits...etc. A younger guy comes in makes chooses David Hasselhoff and then pay the penalty fee to jump this and a few similar songs to the head of the queue.
The Hof is still popular here!
The other night at a bar I had selected some classics from Springsteen, Petty, Dire Straits...etc. A younger guy comes in makes chooses David Hasselhoff and then pay the penalty fee to jump this and a few similar songs to the head of the queue.
The Hof is still popular here!
Posted by Billy on 09/30/13 at 10:15 AM
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