Hélène Ségara was born on February 26, 1971, on French soil to an Italian father and an Armenian mother.
Growing up on the French Riviera, Hélène suffered the divorce of her parents and her beloved grandfather’s death. After winning a local music contest at age 11, she left her family and studies at the age of 14 to become a singer. She performed in piano bars on the southern coast and at age 18, she gave birth to her first son. Her first single, which was released in 1993, was not successful. Three years later, she moved to Paris with her son and her career began to take off with her debut album Coeur de verre and her famous duet with Andrea Bocelli Vivo per lei. She played Esmeralda in the Notre Dame de Paris musical alongside Garou, although she was not originally chosen for the role and only received it after the first choice withdrew. In fact, she was not the female singer who recorded the Notre Dame album. Fortunately, she recovered from a cyst found on her vocal chords by 2000 and was able to release a second album entitled Au nom d’une femme. She became a French favorite on the music scene, winning several awards including a World Music Award for the best-selling French album.
In 2003, she released a third album Humaine and married her drummer, Mathieu Lecat, with whom she had two children. Her album Quand l’éternité…hit the stores in 2006, but did not sell as well as the other three. It is more rock than the other three and was largely written by Hélène. The themes include absence, death and hope and are most likely a reflection of her trying life. Over the years, Hélène has been active with several charities and has participated in various charity concerts. Her album Mon pays, c’est la terre came out in 2008 and is a compilation of international remakes.
It is interesting to note that she released a Spanish-language album in 2002 entitled Hélène.
Although not very up-to-date, you can go to her official website where you can listen to clips of all of her albums.
