Life and career

Early years

Vanessa Paradis was born in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, France, to interior designers Corinne and André Paradis. She began to develop her singing career at age seven when her uncle, record producer Didier Pain, helped her appear on the local television program L'École des fans, a talent show for child singers.

1983-1991

She recorded her first single, "La Magie des surprises-parties", in 1983 and performed it in an Italian festival in 1985. Although not a hit, it paved the way for the song with which she became internationally famous, "Joe le taxi", in 1987 when she was 14. It was No. 1 in France for 11 weeks and, unusually for a song sung in French, was released in the United Kingdom, where it reached No. 3. It was taken from her first album M&J (it stands for Marilyn & John) which, although it placed 13th in France, drew little attention in the UK and did not enter the chart.

In March 1989, at age 16, she left high school to pursue her career.

She released the album Variations sur le même t'aime in 1990, containing a remake of the Lou Reed song "Walk on the Wild Side". The album was written by acclaimed French composer Serge Gainsbourg, whom she met when she received the best singer award at Les Victoires de la Musique, on 4 February 1990. In 1990, Paradis won the 1990 César Award for Most Promising Actress for her role in Noce Blanche.

In 1991, Paradis promoted the fragrance Coco for Chanel. In the advertisement, she was covered in black feathers, portraying a bird swinging in a cage. The advert was shot by Jean-Paul Goude. Paradis spoke of her continued admiration of Chanel in 2010 saying, "The more I know them, the more I love Chanel."

1992-1996

In 1992, she moved to the United States to work with Lenny Kravitz, whom she also dated at the time. Paradis started working on a new album in English, a language in which she was now fluent. Written and produced by Kravitz, the album, titled Vanessa Paradis, topped the French chart and briefly made the UK listings (number 45). One of the singles from it was "Be My Baby", which made number 5 in France and gave her another Top 10 hit in the UK, peaking at No. 6.

In March 1993, Paradis started her first international tour, the Natural High Tour; she performed in France, England and Canada. In February 1994, Live was released in France. In April 1994, Paradis filmed Élisa, under the direction of Jean Becker. Elisa was a big success in France, and was released internationally.

1997-2006

In 1997, Paradis played in Un amour de sorcière with Jeanne Moreau and Jean Reno, before filming Une chance sur deux, with Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo. In March 1999, La fille sur le Pont, by Patrice Leconte was released. This movie was shot and released in black and white. In 2004, she promoted Chanel's new handbags called Ligne Cambon.

In 2005, she modeled for Chanel again for The New Mademoiselle handbag. In 2008, she modelled for Miu Miu. Meanwhile, she was included in the French children's album and concert Le Soldat Rose in 2006.

2007-present

Paradis released a new album (Divinidylle) in 2007 which was released in the UK on 11 December (September in France). There are three versions (regular, limited edition, and the Christmas edition). She started the Divinidylle Tour in October. Some concerts were filmed and a DVD/CD of the tour was released. Paradis won two 'Les Victoires de la Musique' awards for this album in February 2008. Some of her later projects include a greatest hits CD (Best of Vanessa Paradis) which includes the commercial jingle "I love Paris in the Springtime"; she also starred in the animated film Un monstre à Paris, released in 2010.

Canadian film director Jean-Marc Vallée cast Paradis in a starring role in his film Café de Flore, in which she plays the single mother of a Down syndrome child in the 1960s. The film was released in 2011, and Paradis garnered a Genie Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role at the 2012 Genie Awards.

She released an acoustic album in November 2010 entitled Une nuit à Versailles. The album was recorded at L'Opéra of the Palace of Versailles during her Vanessa Paradis Concert Acoustique Tour. She also released a set of DVDs in 2010 called Anthologie which collected rare live performances and interviews from 1987-2007.

In 2010 she became the face of Chanel's new lipstick, Rouge Coco. She also became the face of their new handbag line, Ranger.

Her 2011 international tour included performances in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe and Turkey.

In May 2013, Vanessa Paradis released a new album, Love Songs, a double LP produced by French singer and producer Benjamin Biolay. The first single, Love Song, was also written by Biolay. The second single was Les espaces et les sentiments. The third single, Mi Amor, was written by BB Brunes frontman Adrien Gallo. Other people that have contributed to the songwriting of the album include Mickey 3D frontman Mickaël Furnon, Johnny Depp, Paradis herself and their daughter Lily-Rose.

In 2016, Paradis starred in Yoga Hosers with her daughter Lily Rose, as a history teacher. That same year, she was a member of the main competition jury of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.

Personal life

She dated French singer Florent Pagny from 1988 to 1991. Later she dated Lenny Kravitz from 1992 to 1997. He is the producer from her third album Vanessa Paradis Released in September 21, 1992. She was also in a relationship with French actor Stanislas Merhar from 1997 to 1998. They dated for only 12 months. From 1998 to 2012, Paradis was in a relationship with American actor Johnny Depp. They have a daughter, Lily-Rose Depp (born 1999), and a son, John Christopher "Jack" Depp III (born in 2002). After her split from Johnny Depp, she had a relationshp with French singer Benjamin Biolay from 2012 to 2015. He is the producer and director of her 2013 Vanessa album 2013 Love Songs. He also joined Vanessa on her 2013-2014 Love Songs Tour.

Philanthropy

She is a member of the Les Enfoirés charity ensemble since 1993.

Discography

Main article: Vanessa Paradis discography

	Vanessa Paradis - Joe Le Taxi excerpt An excerpt from Joe Le Taxi
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Studio albums

• 1988: M&J
• 1990: Variations sur le même t'aime
• 1992: Vanessa Paradis
• 2000: Bliss
• 2007: Divinidylle
• 2013: Love Songs

Filmography

Film and television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989	Noce Blanche	Mathilde Tessier
1995	Élisa	Marie Desmoulin
1997	Witch Way Love	Morgane
1998	Pleasure (And It's Little Inconveniences)	La voix du nouvel âge (voice)
1998	Une chance sur deux	Alice Tomaso
1999	Girl on the Bridge	Adèle
2002	Lost in La Mancha	Herself	Documentary (footage from the filming of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote)
2004	Return of James Battle, TheThe Return of James Battle	Concia
2004	My Angel	Colette
2005	Magic Roundabout, TheThe Magic Roundabout	Margote (voice)
2006	Le soldat Rose	Made in Asia	TV film
2007	La clef	Cécile
2010	Heartbreaker	Juliette Van Der Becq
2011	Monster in Paris, AA Monster in Paris	Lucille (voice)	English and French dubs
2011	Café de Flore	Jacqueline
2012	Dubaï Flamingo	Jackie
2012	Low Profile	Emmanuelle
2012	Corouaille	Odile
2013	Fading Gigolo	Avigal
2014	Rio, I Love You	Mulher	segment "Quando não há Mais Amor"
2014	Sous les jupes des filles	Rose
2016	Yoga Hosers	History Teacher

Awards and nominations

Year	Nominated work(s)	Award	Category	Result
1988	"Joe le taxi"	Victoires de la Musique	Best Song	Nominated
	Herself		Best New Female Artist	Nominated
1989				Nominated
1990	"Mosquito"		Best Music Video	Nominated
	Noce Blanche	César Award	Most Promising Actress	Won
	Herself	Prix Romy Schneider	Most Promising Actress	Won
		Victoire de la Musique	Best Female Artist	Won
1991	Tandem		Best Music Video	Won
1993	Herself		Best Female Artist	Nominated
2000	La fille sur le pont	César Award	Best Actress	Nominated
2001	Bliss	NRJ Music Awards	Best Francophone Album	Nominated
	Herself		Best Francophone Female Artist	Nominated
2007		Ordre des Arts et des Lettres	Chevalier	Honored
2008		Trophée des Femmes en Or	Femme de Spectacle	Nominated
	"Dès que j'te vois"	NRJ Music Awards	Best Song	Nominated
	Divinidylle		Best French Album	Nominated
		Victoire de la Musique	Best Pop Album	Won
	Herself		Best Female Artist	Won
		Globe de Cristal	Best Actress	Nominated
2009	Divinidylle Tour	Victoire de la Musique	Best Music DVD	Won
2011	Herself		Best Female Artist	Nominated
	Une nuit à Versailles	Globe de Cristal		Nominated
	L'arnacœur		Best Actress	Nominated
2012	"La Seine" (with -M-)	Victoire de la Musique	Best Music Video	Won
	Café de Flore	Genie Award	Best Actress	Won
		Jutra Award	Best Actress	Won
		Cabourg Romantic Film Festival	Swann d'honneur	Won
		Vancouver Film Critics Circle	Best Canadian Actress	Nominated
2016	Herself	Legion of Honour	Chevalier	Honored

[ Source: Wikipedia ]