Marie-Helene Gauthier was born on September 12, 1961 in Pierrefonds, near Montreal, in the French-speaking province of Quebec. Mylene Farmer's father is an engineer, he built dams in Canada.
With their four children (Brigitte, Michel and Jean-Loup), the family returned to France when Mylène was 10 years old. They settled in the suburbs of Paris, in Ville-d'Avre.
Mylene was very interested in equestrian sports. The girl spent 17 years in Saumur, in Quadr-Noir (a famous French equestrian establishment). Then she lived for three years in Florent, studied at the theater school in Paris. She made a living modeling and filmed several commercials.
It was at this time that she met Laurent Boutonna, who became her like-minded and close friend.
The birth of a star Mylene Farmer
In 1984, Boutonnat and Jérôme Dahan wrote the song Maman à Tort for Mylene. The song immediately became a hit. The video clip for the song cost a very modest amount of 5 thousand francs. It was broadcast by all TV channels.
In January 1986, the album Cendres de Moons was released, which sold a million copies.
A music video was created for the first single from the album Libertine, directed by Laurent Boutonnat.
He created all subsequent clips of Mylene Farmer. Meanwhile, the singer wrote all her lyrics. In the music video, Mylène Farmer is shown in a world that evoked erotic imagery from the XNUMXth century. For example, as in the films "Barry Lyndon" and "The Feather of the Marquis de Sade."
The singer is shown as enigmatic in the clips of Tristana, Sans Contrefaçon, they were ambiguous.
In March 1988, the second album Ainsi Soit Je was released. The collection still has sales records. The artist is immersed in the same erotic and gloomy atmosphere.
On this album, Mylène Farmer sang songs written by some of her favorite authors, including the poet Charles Baudelaire and the English fantasy writer Edgar Allan Poe.
First scene Mylene farmer at the Sports Palace
Mylène Farmer finally decided to take the stage in 1989. After a concert in Saint-Étienne, she appeared in Paris in front of a full house at the Palais des Sports.
This was followed by a tour of more than 52 concerts in France and Europe.
Using her high vocal range, Mylene Farmer presented magnificent performances that have always interested a significant number of spectators.
1990 is dedicated to the recording of 10 new songs. They were released in April 1991 on the album L'autre. This album was accompanied by luxurious video clips for the tracks Désenchantée, Regrets (duet with Jean-Louis Murat), Je T'aime Mélancolie Ou Beyond My Control. In November 1992, a collection of the best remixed tracks, Dance Remixes, was released.
In 1992-1993 Mylene Farmer took part in the filming of the feature film "Giorgino". This long story was filmed over the course of five months in Slovakia, in a challenging environment. In it, the singer played the role of a young autistic woman.
First "failure" Mylene Farmer
Accustomed to triumphant success (both in terms of the number of sales and the number of tickets sold for the show), in 1994 Mylene Farmer suffered her first failure. The film was released on October 4 and was not successful.
The film, which cost 80 million francs, received 1,5 million. The enthusiastic audience during the artist's tours did not buy tickets, as they wanted to see her in the cinema.
Mylene Farmer was troubled by the failure and moved to Los Angeles for a while. It was there that she prepared a new album, which was released in France on October 17, 1995. Photo (cover of the Anamorphosée album) by Herb Ritts, in which the singer neglected the erotic imagery a little.
There was a lot more rock and electronic music in this disc. The energy was manifested in exciting clips. The video clips were no longer directed by Laurent Boutonnat. After the "failure" of the film "Giorgino" Mylene Farmer worked with American directors. Among them was Abel Ferrara ("Bad Lieutenant") for the song California.
After some great shows in Bercy, she started the tour. But it was interrupted after the incident that took place in Lyon on June 15th. At the end of the concert, Mylene Farmer fell into the orchestra pit and broke her wrist. It wasn't until November that she resumed her tour, which continued until 1997. In the spring, triumphal concerts were again held in Bercy.
1999: Innamoramento
Without changing the "recipes" of her success, Mylene returned in 1999 with a new album, Innamoramento. For the album, she wrote almost all the lyrics and composed the music for 5 of the 13 songs.
With the release of the singles Soul Stram Gram and Souviens-Toi Du Jour, the album was at the top of sales with almost 1 million copies.
The stage remained the most important place for the singer. So, a little later, she started the Millennium Tour. The tour is a true American style show. Mylène Farmer appeared on stage, emerging from the head of a sphinx.
In January 2000, she successfully performed on stage to win three awards at a prestigious show hosted by NRJ radio. Receiving applause from her audience, Mylene thanked her "fans".
At the end of the year, after several months of touring, the performer released the live album Mylenium Tour. It included major shows that were organized in France. This further increased the popularity of the Innamoramento album and allowed it to reach sales of 1 million copies.
Mylène Farmer was also an efficient entrepreneur. She controlled all the stage and artistic aspects of her shows.
Mylene Farmer: Best of
At the end of 2001, despite the fact that the Mylenium Tour received the status of "platinum" twice (600 thousand copies), the first Best Of album of the singer, called Words, was released.
He had at least 29 songs on two CDs. The album was as successful as the Innamoramento compilation. He immediately took the 1st position in the top albums.
The first single is a duet with Les Mots. The singer (according to the newspaper Figaro Enterprises on January 14, 2002) topped the list of artists who made the most profits in 2001.
On January 19, 2002, she received the NRJ Music Award for Best French Speaking Female Artist of the Year. This year she also received a "platinum" European award. She sold 1 million copies of her Best Of compilation.
Single Fuck them all
Only in March 2005 the first single Fuck Them All was released. A month later, the diva's new studio album Avant Que L'ombre ("Before the shadow") was released.
This work touches upon the themes of death, spirituality, as well as love and sex. Mylène Farmer wrote lyrics for her songs. Faithful friend Laurent Boutonnat created the music for these compositions.
The artist has always been very careful when "promoting" her work. The singer quickly announced her return to the stage in January 2006 at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy for a series of 13 concerts.
Mylène Farmer sold about 500 copies of Avant Que L'ombre, which received negative reviews.
The singer's performances at Paris-Bercy (January 13-29, 2006) led to the release of the CD and live DVD Before the Shadow… In Bercy. The provincial tour did not take place, as the show was very impressive and costly.
In the same year, Mylene Farmer sang the song Slipping Away in a duet with the American artist Moby.
A few months later, Mylene voiced Princess Selenia in Luc Besson's cartoon Arthur and the Invisibles.
2008: Point de Suture
Point de Suture is the title of a new opus proposed by Mylène Farmer in August 2008. Its release was preceded by the album Degeneration.
Together with Laurent Boutonnay, she came up with a danceable techno-pop music that seduced a significant number of listeners.
In May 2009, a tour of France took place (the first in 9 years). She ended the vocal tour with a series of gigantic stadium shows in Geneva, Brussels and two concerts at the Stade de France, which drew 150 people. In total, the tour gathered about 500 thousand people.
The Stade de France CD and DVD were released in December 2009 and May 2010.
2010: Bleu Noir
Less than a year later, Mylene returned with news full of surprises. In the fall, the "fans" heard a duet with American singer Ben Harper on a cover version of the song INXS Never Tear Us Apart, which was in a collection dedicated to the Australian band.
The singer sang in an unexpected duet with Line Renaud.
Meanwhile, Mylene Farmer was spreading rumors about the release of the eighth album. A website was set up with information about the new album.
The album Bleu Noir was finally released in December 2010. Laurent Boutonnay was not on the list of composers. Mylène Farmer was surrounded by international composers.
2012: Monkey me
Monkey Me is the return of Mylène Farmer and Laurent Boutonnat. This time the songs were formatted for the dance floor with the presence of two DJs - Guena LG and Offer Nissim.
Most fans reacted positively to the announcement of the Timeless 2013 tour, which took place in Russia, Belgium and Switzerland.
The album Timeless 2013 was released in December 2013.
2015: Interstellaires
With the song Stolen Car, recorded in a duet with a British singer Sting, Mylène returned to the music scene in 2015.
The tenth album of the Interstellaires was not successful. The presence of American composer Martin Kierszenbaum (Lady Gaga, Feist, Tokio Hotel) allowed the red-haired diva to conquer the American market.
About 300 thousand copies of this album were sold. After breaking her tibia, Mylène Farmer did not leave France and the tour was cancelled.
In March 2017, Mylene Farmer announced her departure from Universal (Polydor). And then she joined Pascal Negre, the former CEO of Universal Music, who now leads his own #NP structure, which accompanied artists in the "promotion" of their records.
