{"id":94,"date":"2009-05-11T05:00:36","date_gmt":"2009-05-11T09:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=91"},"modified":"2010-03-09T21:57:29","modified_gmt":"2010-03-09T21:57:29","slug":"french-music-the-american-woman-who-conquered-paris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/french-music-the-american-woman-who-conquered-paris\/","title":{"rendered":"French Music – The American Woman Who Conquered Paris"},"content":{"rendered":"

I mentioned Carole Fredericks in a recent article on one of my very favorite French singers, Jean-Jacques Goldman<\/a>, and I am inspired to tell all of you more about her for a few reasons.\u00a0 First of all, because she was a very popular singer throughout the French-speaking world in the 90’s as part of the trio Fredericks-Goldman-Jones.\u00a0 Secondly, because she is the epitome of what good French-American relations should be all about – what we have in common and our mutual interests in culture, namely music.\u00a0 And last, but not least, I find it absolutely wonderful that her family has chosen to tell her story and share her legacy by promoting French language education and Francophone culture in the United States and Canada by developing lesson plans, workbooks and other materials in collaboration with French teachers and foreign language associations so that young people can discover what good French-American relations should be all about.
\nCarole Denise Fredericks was born in Springfield, Massachusetts on June 5, 1952. \u00a0She sang in church and participated in her school choir.\u00a0 Upon graduating from high school, she was determined to make a career out of singing the blues.\u00a0 She moved to San Francisco to work with her brother, blues singer Taj Mahal, with whom she recorded three albums.\u00a0 However, she never really found great success in the United States.\u00a0 On the weekends in San Francisco, she would sing with a trio called La Belle Hel\u00e8ne at a French bistro.\u00a0 The French couple who owned the bistro encouraged Carole to pursue her dream in France.\u00a0 And that’s exactly what she did at the age of 27, even though she didn’t know a single word of French.
\nIn Paris, her talent, courage and determination brought her from singing background vocals for such stars as Johnny Hallyday, Patricia Kaas, Elton John, C\u00e9line Dion and others to becoming a very successful and much loved star throughout France and Africa as part of the trio Fredericks-Goldman-Jones.\u00a0 She creatively brought her American roots and her beloved gospel, R&B, jazz and blues to French music.\u00a0 For ten years, she performed alongside Jean-Jacques Goldman and Michael Jones in front of sold-out crowds all over Europe, Africa and Asia.\u00a0 She also released two solo albums during this time, entitled Springfield<\/em> in English and Couleurs et parfums <\/em>in French.
\nSadly, in the very midst of her hard-fought success, she suffered a heart attack at the age of 49 while in Senegal, a French-speaking country she had come to know as her own.\u00a0 Carole Fredericks was buried in Montmartre Cemetery in Paris and continues to be a music icon in the Francophone world.
\nHere is a video of her popular song Qu’est-ce qui t’amene<\/em>:<\/p>\n