Annie Cordy passed away two years ago, in the South of France... Her heart gave way after giving so much. Tribute in images to a tireless artist: dancer, magazine leader, operetta singer, Variety clown, TV star, immense film actress... And woman of one man who would have dreamed of being a mother... .

Nini is no more. An unwavering energy, a memorable smile and a popularity that crosses all borders... The French-speaking world has been crying for two years Annie Cordy , the Belgian Tata Yoyo, who died at the age of 92 following a cardiac arrest at her home in Vallauris (Alpes-Maritimes) on September 4, 2020. She leaves behind nearly 700 songs, decades of shows... and an inconsolable generation. Memories...

Annie Cordy: a Brussels youth

The little Leonie Cooreman (his real name) was born on June 16, 1928 in Laeken, a municipality attached to the city of Brussels in Belgium. She grew up close to her older brother Louis and her sister Jeanne. carpenter's daughter, it was his mother who gave him a taste for music and who enrolled him in the renowned dance class of the Ambrosini sisters at the age of 8.

The young Léonie revealed her talents: she learned music theory and the piano then took part in several competitions from 1944 where she performed in sung and danced numbers.

Four years later in 1948, the young woman is already recording her first 78-rpm in which she covers popular hits. Gifted, she is committed to Beef on the Roof , cabaret in Brussels.

Sparkling and dynamic, she was noticed in 1950 by Pierre-Louis Guérin, the artistic director of the famous Parisian cabaret the Lido. Slender and lively Liane with a sacred voice, she leaves her native country for the French capital and becomes a magazine leader ...

At 22, it all started in Paris for the one who saw her smiling and who now calls herself Annie Cordy!

Debut of Annie Cordy: operettas, music hall and hits

Annie Cordy took her first steps into the world of operetta in 1952 alongside Bourvil and George Guétary in The Flowery Route . In parallel, Annie Cordy meets success with her first songs Les Trois Bandits de Napoli, Bonbons Caramels, or The Ballad of Davy Crockett.

In 1955, it is already the consecration for the lookout which occurs at the Olympia and Bobino. The Belgian is even invited to sing for the engagement of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier II of Monaco... Just that!

Annie has a string of successes between the 70s and 80s : T'as vu Monte Carlo ( 1969) , Hello, Dolly ! ( 1972) , The Priest's Maid ( 1974) , Nini la Chance (1976), Tata Yoyo (1981) , Cho Ka Ka O ( 1985 ) ... In demand on all TV sets, from Carpentier to Michael Drucker , the singer willingly lends herself to show business and thus confirms her star status in Belgium and France.

Annie Cordy: the call of the 7th Art

Quickly, the big screen claims the brilliant Annie Cordy. As she shines in her musical career, Nini appears in the film If Versailles was told to me by Sacha Guitry in 1954 then in Poisson d'Avril in 1954 where she gave the reply to Bourvil and Louis de Funès.
First chosen for comic roles, Annie Cordy will bluff the cinema playing in The Passenger of the Rain by René Clément in 1970 in the guise of an alcoholic mother, then with with John Gabin and Simone Signoret in Cat , a feature film by Pierre Granier-Deferre, in which she plays a prostitute in 1971.

Follower of Variety, glamorous clown, this showgirl likes to surprise... After demonstrating the extent of her abilities, she turns to a completely different audience by giving her voice to Grandmother Foliage in the Disney pocahantas . In the 2000s, she then made some popular appearances, as in A Blonde's Revenge a 1994 one Disk with Franck Dubosc in 2009.

Crazy love with François-Henri Bruno

Yes Annie Cordy lives a real love story with the public, she also shares her life with her husband and manager François-Henri Bruno, d 17 years her senior. She met him when she arrived in Paris in 1951... Le couple convole in justes noces in 1958 at the town hall of Bièvres, and moved into a beautiful house, La Roseraie. Lovers reconcile career and love during 40 years old but do not welcome any children...

The only regret of Annie Cordy  : not to have given life

Interviewed in 2015 by L'Express , the artist returned to the subject of motherhood. At the question 'How is it, dear Annie, our grandmother of all, that you have no children?' , she simply replied: Because I couldn't have , duck! You can imagine if I had any, I wouldn't have thrown them away!' That is what is said...

On the death of her husband in 1989, the singer was able to count on the support of her niece Michèle Lebon, nicknamed Mimi, who followed her when she moved to the South of France. ' I have an incredible chance , she's been living with me for twelve years, I've been relying on her. I have someone beside me on whom I can count, I have an exceptional end of life ' , Annie Cordy had then declared to Paris here in 2015.

Ennoblement and honors

Become a popular star, Annie Cordy was ennobled by the hands of the King of Belgium Albert II and received the title of baroness in 2004. She chooses her coat of arms, an ear of wheat and two theatrical masks in a large red diamond, surrounded by two lions on the sides and a crown on the top and takes as her motto 'Passion is strength'. In 2018, the park near the station of Laeken, his hometown, was renamed 'Parc Annie Cordy'. A wonderful star now shines above the trees...

Source journaldesfemmes.fr