Acting

Isabelle Aubret

Isabelle Aubret (born Thérèse Coquerelle; 27 July 1938) is a French singer best known for winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 1962 with the song "Un premier amour". Thérèse Coquerelle was born in Lille, France, on 27 July 1938. She was the fifth of eleven children; her father was a foreman in a spinning mill, while her mother, of Ukrainian origin, was a housewife. Coquerelle trained in gymnastics as a child, and in 1952 she won the national French Gymnastics Championship. That same year, she left school and was hired as a winder in the Lemaire-Destombes factory in Saint-André, where her father worked. A few years later, she returned to this spinning mill to sing in the theatre of her family house, as part of a radio program. She continued to take drama and classical dance classes. At the same time, she participated in local singing competitions. Her drama teacher introduced her to the director of a Lille radio station, and Coquerelle took the stage for the first time. She sang in ensembles, and in 1956, at the age of eighteen, she joined an orchestra in Le Havre. In 1960 she won a singing competition at the Olympia, where she was noticed by the director of the room, Bruno Coquatrix. After Coquerelle secured a cabaret spot in Pigalle, she released her debut single "Nous les Amoureux" in 1961 under the name Isabelle Aubret.