Elsa Lunghini (born 20 May 1973), known
mononym
A mononym is a name composed of only one word. An individual who is known and addressed by a mononym is a mononymous person.
A mononym may be the person's only name, given to them at birth. This was routine in most ancient societies, and remains ...
ously as Elsa, is a French singer and actress. She was a teenage pop-star in the late-1980s. In 1986, she was the youngest singer to reach number one in the French charts, with the single "
T'en va pas", and she went on to sell millions of records during the decade. ''
Elsa'', her album of 1988, had achieved double-platinum status by 1993.
Biography
Daughter of George Lunghini (actor, photographer and songwriter) and Christiane Jobert (painter and also sister of actress
Marlène Jobert and Charles Jobert, a camera operator and director of photography), she is of
Italian origin on her father's side and of
Sephardic Jewish origin on her mother's side.
Telle mère, quelle fille
'', Novembre 2010, Par Sophie Carquain, ''Madame'', Le Figaro
() is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It was named after Figaro, a character in several plays by polymath Pierre Beaumarchais, Beaumarchais (1732–1799): ''Le Barbier de Séville'', ''The Guilty Mother, La Mère coupable'', ...
She is a cousin of actresses
Eva Green and
Josephine Jobert.
Lunghini first performed in a movie at age seven, in 1981, in
Claude Miller's ''
Garde à vue'' (also starring
Romy Schneider).
She was the youngest artist to be in the main program at the
Olympia, at 17, in October 1990 as well as the youngest to have a number 1 hit in the Top 50 in France. At 13, in 1986, she remained number 1 for eight weeks with "
T'en va pas" (soundtrack of the movie ''
La Femme de ma vie''). The song was composed by the Italian
Romano Musumarra, who had worked and helped produce hits for 1980s singer Jeanne Mas. The song was a hit in France and sold elsewhere in Europe with an English recording.
With the help of her musician father, she recorded her LP ''Elsa''. It sold more than 600,000 copies with hit singles such as "
Quelque chose dans mon cœur" ("Something in my heart"), "
Jour de neige" ("Snowing day"), "
Jamais nous" (with backing vocals by French singer Laurent Voulzy) ("Never us"), "
Un Roman d'amitié" (duet with
Glenn Medeiros) ("Friend you give me a Reason"), "
À la même heure dans deux ans" ("At the same time in two years"). All were top 10 hits. At that time, Lunghini was the only artist to have her first four singles at number one or two. She became popular in the teen press, often compared with
Vanessa Paradis.
In 1990, she made her second album, ''Rien que pour ça'' ("Only for that"). The songs were produced by her father and Elsa wrote the music for the single of the same name. "Rien que pour ça" was a top 20 hit. Two other excerpts were released: "Pleure doucement" ("Cry softly") and "Qu'est-ce que ça peut lui faire" ("How does she matter").
In 1992, Lunghini recorded "Bouscule-moi" ("Push me on"), a mid-rock single with more adult lyrics. "Bouscule-moi" was a hit single. Her third album was ''
Douce violence'' ("Sweet violence").
In 1996, aged 23, she wrote and composed her fourth album, ''Chaque jour est un long chemin'' (Every day is a long way). It sold 20,000. From 20 to 24 September 2004, she gave shows in Paris at the Européen. A live DVD and a live CD went on sale in 2006.
She has starred in two TV movies: 2002's ''La mort est rousse'' and 2004's ''Trois jours en juin'' and is involved in a television advertising campaign for Danone yoghurt.
Discography
*''
Elsa'' (1988)
*''
Rien que pour ça'' (1990)
*''
Douce violence'' (1992)
*''Chaque jour est un long chemin'' (1996)
*''De lave et de sève'' (2004)
*''Elsa Lunghini'' (2008)
Filmography
Cinema:
*1981: ''
Garde à vue'' (de
Claude Miller) – Camille (l'enfant)
*1985: ''
Train d'enfer'' (de
Roger Hanin) – (uncredited)
*1985: ''
Rouge baiser'' (de
Véra Belmont) – Rosa
*1986: ''
La Femme de ma vie'' (de
Régis Wargnier
Régis Wargnier (; born 18 April 1948) is a French film director, film producer, screenwriter and film score composer. His 1992 film ''Indochine (film), Indochine'' won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 65th Academy Awards. ...
) – Éloïse
*1987: ''
Où que tu sois'' (de
Alain Bergala) – Anne
*1992: ''
Le Retour de Casanova'' (de
Édouard Niermans) – Marcolina
*2009: ''Le portail'' (Short, by Liam Engle) – Maman
*2013: ''Pauvre Richard!'' (by Malik Chibane) – Amel
Television:
*2002: ''
La Mort est rousse'' (TV Movie, de
Christian Faure) – Charlotte
*2005: ''
Trois jours en juin'' (TV Movie, de
Philippe Venault) – Sylvie
*2007: ''Où es-tu ?'' (de
Miguel Courtois) – Suzanne
*2009: ''Aveugle mais pas trop'' (TV Movie, de
Charlotte Brandström) – Emma
*2010: La maison des Rocheville (TV, by Jacques Otmezguine) - Sylvana
External links
*
*
Fan site(in French)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lunghini, Elsa
1973 births
Actresses from Paris
French film actresses
French people of Algerian-Jewish descent
French people of Italian descent
French television actresses
Jewish French actresses
Living people
Singers from Paris
20th-century French actresses
21st-century French actresses
Ariola Records artists
Warner Records artists
21st-century French singers
21st-century French women singers
20th-century French Sephardi Jews
20th-century Mizrahi Jews
Jobert family