Sylvie Vartan
Sylvie Vartan
Biography
Sylvie Vartan (born Sylvie Georges Vartanian on 15 August 1944) is a Bulgarian-Armenian-French singer and actress. She is known as one of the most productive and tough-sounding yé-yé artists. Her performances often featured elaborate show-dance choreography,[and she made many appearances on French and Italian TV. Yearly shows with then-husband Johnny Hallyday attracted full houses at the Olympia and the Palais des congrès de Paris throughout the 1960s and mid-1970s. In 2004, after a break in performances, she began recording and giving concerts of jazz ballads in francophone countries. Sylvie Vartan was born in Iskrets, Sofia Province, in the then Kingdom of Bulgaria. Her father, Georges Vartanian (1912–1970), was born in France to a Bulgarian mother named Slavka and an Armenian father. He worked as an attaché at the French embassy in Sofia. The family shortened the name Vartanian to Vartan. Her mother, Ilona (née Mayer 1914–2007), daughter of prominent architect Rudolf Mayer, was of Hungarian-Jewish descent. When the Soviet Army invaded Bulgaria in September 1944, the Vartanian family house was nationalised and they moved to Sofia. In 1952, a friend of Sylvie's father, film director Dako Dakovski, offered her the role of a schoolgirl in the movie Pod igoto, a film about Bulgarian rebels against the Ottoman occupation. Participating in the film made her dream of becoming an entertainer come true. The hardships of postwar Bulgaria made the family emigrate to Paris in December 1952. At first they stayed in the Lion d'Argent hotel near Les Halles, where Georges found a job, then for the next four years they stayed in a single room at the Angleterre Hotel. Young Sylvie had to work hard to keep up at school and blend in with her schoolmates. She spent two years learning French. In 1960, her family moved to an apartment in Michel Bizot Avenue. Thanks to the influence of her music producer brother Eddie, music became teenage Sylvie's main interest. Her most influential genres were jazz and, out of spite toward her strict high school, rock 'n' roll. Her favourite artists included Brenda Lee, Bill Haley, and Elvis Presley. In 1961, Eddie offered Sylvie the chance to record the song "Panne d'essence" with French rocker Frankie Jordan. The Decca Records EP was a surprise hit. Although she was not credited on the sleeve, "Panne d'essence" provided Vartan her first appearance on French television. The journalists gave her the nickname la collégienne du twist. After the "twisting schoolgirl" had finished the Victor Hugo High School, she was free to sign a contract with Decca Records to start recording her own EP; carrying the title song "Quand le film est triste", a cover of Sue Thompson's "Sad Movies (Make Me Cry)", the EP was on sale by the beginning of December 1961. ... Source: Article "Sylvie Vartan" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.
Known For
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
68
Gender
Female
Birthday
1944-08-15 (81 years old)
Place of Birth
Iskretz, Bulgaria
Acting

2025

Once Upon My Mother as Sylvie Vartan

2023

L'Âge d'or de la pub as Self (archive footage)

2022

Il était une fois Champs-Élysées as Self (archive footage)

2022

Sheila, toutes ces vies-là as Self (archive footage)

2021

Archives secrètes as Self (archive footage)

2018

The Secret Song as Self

2016

Quotidien as Self - Guest

2013

It Happened in Saint-Tropez as Une people à Cannes soirée Melko

2009

C à vous as Self

2009

C à vous as Self - Guest

2006

On n'est pas couché as Self - Guest

2001

Star Academy as Self

2001

The Apartment as Self - Guest

2001

Mausolée pour une garce as Agnès Taride

1998

Vivement dimanche as Self

1994

The Black Angel as Stéphane Feuvrier

1990

Stars 90 as Self

1987

Sacrée Soirée as Self

1986

Miss France as Self - Judge

1984

Die verflixte 7 as Self

1984

Sunset People as Self

1982

Champs-Elysées as Self

1980

The Big Show as Self

1979

Carlos Numéro 1 as Self

1978

Bio’s Bahnhof as Self

1977

Fan School as Self

1976

30 millions d'amis as Self

1975

Midi Première as Self

1975

Numéro un as Self

1975

Numéro un as Self - Host

1975

Numéro un as Self (archive footage)

1975

Système 2 as Self

1973

Klimbim as Self

1972

Midi trente as Self

1972

Le Grand Échiquier as Self

1972

Repeated Absences as Une femme à la soirée mondaine

1972

J'ai tout donné as Self

1971

Samedi soir as Self

1971

Cadet Rousselle as Self

1971

Malpertuis as Bets

1968

À bout portant as Self

1967

The Ponies as Sylvie Vartan

1967

Europarty as Self

1965

Dim Dam Dom as Self

1964

Cherchez l'idole as Sylvie Vartan

1964

Friends of the family as Alexa Rollo

1963

Just for Fun as Self

1962

Un clair de Lune à Maubeuge as La chanteuse yéyé

1959

Discorama as Self