Born on February 28: Jeanne Mas is retiring after 40 years of hits

It was in Spain, near Alicante, that Jeanne Mas was born in 1958. Although she rarely talks about her childhood, we know that music was a part of her life from a very early age. 

In Paris, where she moved with her family, she was taught singing and piano. It was in Italy that the young traveler founded her first punk band, with the support of a music label that saw a unique spark in her. After a few years in Italy, she returned to France, determined to make a name for herself and found a place as a singer with her first single "Toute première fois". 

It was 1984 and her success was immediate. A first album followed shortly after. It contained other hits, such as "Johnny Johnny". Two years later, there was new success for her. At the time she sported a punk look, black hair and pronounced makeup that became her identity on stage. "Femmes d'aujourd'hui" (1 million albums sold), notably includes titles that have become cult, "En rouge et noir" (whose lyrics she wrote inspired by the famous novel by Stendhal) or "L'enfant".

The following years are first dedicated to a break in her career, which she devotes to her family. Her comeback in the mid-90s is initially timid, especially with the release of a new album, more discreet and committed than the previous ones. The singer, with her unforgettable looks, then comes out with a compilation, "Depuis la toute première fois", which is quickly crowned as a gold record. Jeanne Mas returns to the forefront and albums follow one after the other, some with more success than others.

In 2023, she celebrates 40 years of singing. After 21 albums, it's now time for her to bow out after a long tour that will end in spring 2025 and then enjoy a quiet life in her house in Arizona, where she leads a life far from the music scene of France: "In France, I'm known as an artist but in the United States, I organize writing workshops and produce short films."

(Céline Massart - Tr.: MH - Photo: © Etienne Tordoir)
Photo: Jeanne Mas in the Cinecittà studios in Rome (Italy) for the shooting of the video clip "L’enfant" on September 1, 1986