“It’s rare to find someone capable of injecting such life into every single lyric.” – London Jazz News
Much like songbird Edith Piaf, Madeleine Peyroux spent her teenage years busking the busy streets of Paris. Just like the ‘little sparrow’, Madeleine befriended the city’s street musicians and made its Latin quarter her first stage. Years later, Peyroux would cite iconic Piaf as an influence on her music. There, her rendition of Piaf’s classic “La Vie En Rose”, soulfully captures the tune’s romanticism and melancholy.
Madeleine “grew up in a house filled with music” and from an early age “instinctively realized music’s soothing power”. Then, young Madeleine moved to Paris with her mother in 1987 following her parents’ divorce. “To soothe me during the upheaval”, she recalls, “I was given a guitar and took to playing in the streets almost immediately.”
The curious teenager started skipping school to frequent the city’s Latin Quarter. At sixteen, the fearless teen joined the Lost Wandering Blues and Jazz Band with whom she toured Europe. She discovered Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday while “voraciously picking up all the songs and all the guitar playing” she could.
Thirty years after her formative busking days Peyroux is the proud curator of nine beguiling albums. The soundtrack of Oscar-winner The Shape of Water features her atmospheric version of Serge Gainsbourg’s “La Javanaise”. Additionally, her countless accolades include the coveted BBC International Artist of the Year honor.
Madeleine might attribute her success to “mostly luck”. However, to the industry and loyal fans alike, it is the immense talent and utter dedication to her craft that shines through. “Peyroux is a tremendous talent and almost a total intuitive” reflects Larry Klein, “she has the capacity to get the magic. When she sings and plays her guitar, great things happen.”
Recommended for fans of Norah Jones, Melody Gardot, Diana Krall and Stacey Kent.
