Mylene Farmer

This story took place at the end of June and beginning of July of 2009; Mylene Farmer came to Russia to present her new concert program. Concerts were held in Saint Petersburg and Moscow and I, being an admirer of her immeasurable talent, want to boast of an autograph by Mylene Farmer, and also tell you a little about this outstanding woman.

Mylene Farmer (true name – Helene Gautier) was born on September 12 of 1961 in the Canadian city of Montreal. But she did not live in Canada too long, since her parents moved to Paris when their employment contract was over in 1969. Her first aspiration was to be an actress (and this desire is still very strong in her), therefore, Farmer decided to get her education in that sphere. It was in those years, when she met Laurent Boutonnat – the man, who became her creative companion and greatly influenced her career in the music world. When back in 1984, 23-year old Mylene recorded her first song «Maman a tort» (Mother is wrong) with the help of Laurent Boutonnat (music) and Jerome Dahan (lyrics), it was just unbelievable how her career developed to the point of her becoming a French superstar in such a short time.

It was approximately at this time, when she changed her real last name Gautier for Farmer. Whether she made this decision by herself or she did it under Laurent’s influence is not clear, but it is commonly believed that she adopted this last name as a tribute to an American actress of the 1930s – Frances Farmer, who was very promising, but because of her addiction to alcohol, spent most of the 1940s in a mental hospital. No doubt, she experienced a major breakthrough in 1985-1987, when Mylene switched from “RCA” Records Company to “Polydor” and released such singles as “Libertine” and “Tristana” and her first album “Cendres de Lune” (Moon Ashes). At the same time, Mylene dyed her naturally brown hair into red colour – just like her mothers’. Laurent’s union with Mylene became unshakeable and soon her angelic voice together with composer’s and director’s talents of Laurent started to win the attention of the French audience.

But it was just a beginning… Her success was solidified when her singles “Sans сontrefacon” and “Pourvu qu’elles soient douces/Libertine II” were released together with amazing epic video clips. Golden disks and rewards were soon to come, and the media started talking about her.

Although Mylene has always asserted that it was unpleasant for her to give interviews, at the end of 1980s her appearances on TV became quite frequent. But soon it turned out that Farmeromania weighed her down and she was extremely missing solitude; thus after a number of concerts in 1989, her public appearances became fewer.

After relatively short absence, Mylene returned in 1991 with hit album “L’autre” (The Other). It exhibited Mylene’s new qualities; its 50/50 combination of dance compositions and slow mixes allowed Mylene to demonstrate how strong her vocal talent had become.

Her hit “Desenchantee” helped Mylene to gain supporters in other, non-French-speaking countries. As it was in the case with her previous album, four singles were released, the last one of which – “Beyond my control” – was released at the end of 1992. The next single, “Que mon couer lache” was released to promote her new album of compilations “Dance Remixes,” but then, at the beginning of 1993, Mylene disappeared from the public eye again.

This absence though, was not due to the preparation of a new album, the explanation was this: she started to work on a huge and, maybe, too ambitious project – film “Giorgino.” “Giorgino” was a long-expected step from Mylene and Laurent into the field of movie industry. It was really a big project and, although there were some articles about it in the press in January of 1994, the three-hour premiere show of it took place only in October of 1994. Shot in the English language, the movie, however, was fully in line with the French cinematograph; such a film could have never been made in Hollywood. A number of those, who watched it, compared it to the music video “Disappointment” (“Desenchantee”). Critics expressed mixed evaluations, and, as did many other films with musicians participating in them, it was soon forgotten.

But the time came to come back to the record studio. It was a time for a change… After almost three years of absence, Mylene at last presented to her patient fans new album “Anamorphosee” (“Different”). The music changed very much, it became largely livelier due to the sound of Jeff Dahlgren’s guitar; Mylene’s voce had also changed, which could be attributed to her living in Los Angeles for several previous years. Most songs were still written by Laurent, which proved once again how great his composer’s skill was – it is enough to compare the storm of rock in “Anamorphosee” with the calm, at times even eulogy-like, soundtrack to “Giorgino” movie.

In the first several weeks after its release in the end of 1995, the new album sold 40 thousand copies a day, making obvious the fact – Mylene was still one of the most popular French singers. Album was acclaimed by most of music magazines. Mylene was back and as strong as ever! The first single, released from the new album was “XXL.” Its video, together with the music, showed how deep the changes had been. The video was shot in black and white, and it was directed by Marcus Nispel instead of Laurent. With its powerful rock cords it thundered on the screens of music channels at the end of 1995. The second video clip “L’Instant X” (The X Instant), which was released soon afterwards, was also made by Marcus Nispel.

After the release of this single, at last, the long-awaited concert tour of 1996 was announced. Starting from Toulon, the tour then had to run through all of France and go to Belgium and Switzerland. No wonder, that the concerts were also just the opposite of the 1989 tour: the show was big, loud and very American. With the help of a group of American musicians and dancers, Mylene demonstrated to her audience a completely different facet of her personality, which was much happier, smiling and gay.

At that point the third single – “California” was released together with the accompanying video. It was directed by Abel Ferrara; the plot was much more sophisticated than in the two previous ones. Mylene was on top of the world again, but misfortune was lurking by the corner…

On June 15 of 1996, during the concert in Lyon, Mylene fell at the end of her song “XXL,” leaving the public puzzled and concerned. The fans were patiently waiting for explanations of what had happened. The sad news was that Mylene had broken her wrist and the rest of the tour would be cancelled. Mylene was ruthlessly thrown down from the top of the world. But, as the lyrics in “Tomber 7 fois” (Falling Down Seven Times) go, Mylene had to come back. Cancelled concerts were postponed till December of 1996, giving people one more chance to see her live that year. At the same time, her fourth single was released – “Comme j’ai mal” (Because It Hurts).

After the 1996 tour and the release of the video version of “Live à Bercy” concert, there came a pause, and only in April of 1999 Mylene Farmer presented to the audience her new album “Innamoramento.”

On September 21 of 1999, Mylene’s new tour began — The Mylenium Tour, which was made very grand and which enjoyed success. The Mylenium Tour was acclaimed as the best rock-show of the last thirty years on the world’s popular music scene. In the course of this tour, Mylene visited Russia to give concerts in Moscow and Saint-Petersburg on March 4—8 of 2000.

April of 2005 dawned on the world of pop-music with the new album from Mylene – “Avant que l’ombre.” A little later, a video clip was released on the screens for the song with a scandalous title “Fuck Them All,” directed by Agusti Villaronga. Mylene Farmer is one of the most popular and well-known European female singers of the world. She gained world wide popularity, although she did not perform her songs in English. Her concerts are among the most colourful and complex ones in terms of technical stunts and decorations. The cost of some of Mylene’s concert shows exceeded 30 million euros (her 2006 show in Bercy cost 38 million euros). Farmer is also the author of lyrics for the most of her songs, and, occasionally, she also composes music for her songs.

In August of 2008, Mylene Farmer’s seventh consecutive studio album “Point de suture” was released.

In March of 2008, concerts on Paris stadium Stade de France were announced, which were scheduled for September 11 and 12 of 2009. On March 28 of 2008, on the first date of ticket sales, all of 160 000 tickets were sold out in two hours. This set the record in the music world. Also concerts in Geneva (Switzerland) at the stadium Stade de Geneve were announced and 120 000 tickets were sold out in two hours. It set the record for Switzerland. In her interview to a French magazine “Tetu,” she announced her plans to give concerts in Russia. The concerts were held in Saint-Petersburg (28^th of July, 2009, in Peterburgsky Hall) and in Moscow (1^st of July at Olympyisky Sport Complex).

Mylene Farmer enjoys popularity in Russia since 1989. Her biggest fan-clubs are in Italy, Germany, France, Russia, Belgium, Canada and Switzerland. There is also an informal community, called “Mylenium.”

And here is some information for the curious minds: Mylene’s height is 169 centimeters and her weight is – 45 kilograms.