Mylene Farmer

Biography

Mylène Farmer was born in Pierrefonds, Quebec, Canada, a suburb (now borough) of Montreal. Her parents moved from France in the late 1950s as Farmer's father, Max, pursued an engineering contract on a dam. Her family returned to France when she was eight, settling in the Parisian suburb of Ville d'Avray. In her teenage years, Farmer was passionate about horse-riding, qualifying as a riding instructor at the equestrian centre in Saumur. At 17, however, Mylène Farmer discovered acting and she abandoned the stables to take a three-year course at the Cours Florent, a drama school in Paris. Changing her name to Mylène Farmer as a tribute to her idol, 30s Hollywood actress Frances Farmer, she began to earn a living as a model acting in several TV ads.

In 1984, Farmer met Laurent Boutonnat, a young film student also enrolled in Cours Florent, when she replied to a newspaper ad for an actress for a small film he was working on. Farmer and Boutonnat became friends and forged a creative partnership, writing and producing the music. Boutonnat, whose ambition was to become a film director, was the force behind Mylène’s videos. Much of Farmer's fame and success can be attributed to elaborate and theatrical music videos which are seen as short films. Her concerts and videos are compared to those of Michael Jackson and Madonna ("Pourvu qu'elles soient douces" lasts 17 minutes, while "California" was directed by Abel Ferrara and cost $700,000).

Farmer gained fame with songs featuring shocking yet poetic lyrics, and explicit music videos: "Maman a tort" was about the love of a young girl for her female hospital nurse. "Pourvu qu'elles soient douces" contains hints of sodomy; the video, set in the 18th century, featured a caning. "Libertine" is said to feature the first full frontal nudity appearance by a singer on a major music video. "Que mon cœur lâche" was about love with condoms in the age of AIDS; the video for the song features a scene in which God tells Jesus he won't send him to Earth again because the last time "it was a disaster."

Farmer is the most successful and provocative female French recording artist, the only artist to have each of her studio albums gaining platinum status in France. She is also popular in Belgium, Switzerland, Russia and parts of Eastern Europe.

Among her best-known songs are "Désenchantée", "Pourvu qu'elles soient douces", "Sans contrefaçon", "Libertine", "C'est une belle journée", and "Rêver".