263
STARS AND LEGENDS:
RAQUEL BITTON
SELECTED REVIEWS:
"Dear Raquel, your singing is superb, and I was so happy to find out to which extent you possess the "Climat" PIAF. Your voice, your heart, your talent would have pleased her so much, I assure you.” HENRI CONTET (Author of more than 40 of Piaf's songs, such as: Le Vieux Piano, T'es beau tu sais...)
“Bigger than life, this tiny woman fills the grandest concert halls with awe-inspiring voice and giant persona. She captivates, moves and utterly consumes every person in the house. Her audience gasps, cries, reels, remembers - and finds their heart. Her voice resonates with passion at the core. One cannot avoid being smitten by her instrument of amour. French singer and recording artist Raquel Bitton is an inspirational, American dream success… S he worked her way up from the small jazz clubs to sold-out performances at Carnegie Hall and notable concert halls throughout North America. Raquel Bitton is considered by everyone who had the fortune to attend her concerts, the most passionate and powerful artist on the stage today -- anywhere! "Powerful, emotional, mesmerizing...musically stunning - - Bitton's impassioned delivery has a trance-like effect on a listener. Piaf and Billie Holiday share a poignancy that few others have mastered; Bitton, here, is one.", Philip Elwood, San Francisco Examiner
"Passion is at the core of the "Piaf" Persona, in this case there is a surrogate, she is RAQUEL BITTON." Anna Kisselgoff. New York Times
"A phenomenally good singer, BITTON can rasp with the best, and on the softer tunes be crisply, sensationally Rhapsodic...", Peter Stack, San Francisco Chronicle
"Wonderful!!! I received this morning your CD "In A Jazzy Mood", you can't imagine how I felt, your interpretations are sublime and the Orchestrations by BOB HOLLOWAY quite original! Hurrah! A million thanks my dear Raquel, Joy! Joy! Joy!”, PAUL MISRAKI, (Author and Composer of "In A Jazzy Mood").
There is a spiritual bond between French singers and American Jewish singers of various styles, schools and periods.
There is a spiritual bond between French singers and American Jewish singers of various styles, schools and periods. Nina Simone adored Jacques Brel. While recording his immortal song “Ne me quittes pas”, Simone stopped playing the piano for a few seconds, looked at her hands trembling on the keyboard and murmured to herself “Are those hands leading me toward ”l’ame” (the soul) of Brel, or is it Brel’s soul who is guiding me, for these hands are burning and I am in pain…” Glen Campbell experienced similar mystical moments when he recorded his own and very special version of Brel’s song. He gave it a new title “If you go away” instead of “Ne me quittes pas”, for, at that moment in his life, Campbell was searching for truthful words to express the pain he felt, the inquietude and the fear of loosing his loved one. He was searching for simple, warm and emotionally charged words, and he found them in Brel’s lyrics and music. Josephine Baker found her “paradise” and “love” in French music. She said once: “J’ai deux amours, j’ai deux pays, Paris et la chanson” (I have two loves, I love two countries, Paris and the song). The greatest hit of Vikky Carr “It Must Be Him” was written by France’s Great Gilbert Becaud. One of the most celebrated all time hit of Barbra Streisand “My Man” was originally written and composed in French and sung by Patachou, Piaf’s protégé and by Catherine Sauvage. Eartha Kitt was re-born again when she began to sing France’s cabaret songs in Paris. One of the world’s most recognizable and loved American motion picture theme song “Theme of Lara” (Dr. Zhivago Film, starring Omar Sharif) was written by the French composer Maurice Jarre. Anna Bergman, the Diva of French-American Cabaret shines and glitters when she sings Piaf. Her world-class talent comes to life when she performs on stage the song of Vieux Paris (Old Paris) and particularly Piaf’s songs. The Grande Dame of American Cabaret, Amanda McBroom touches the face of God every time she sings Jacques Brel. New York, Chicago, California, the entire United States trembled and rejoiced with “Les Miserables” and “Maurice Chevalier’s “Thanks for the Little Girl”… And “Gigi” brought so many French and American hearts together. And who could forget Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire.
MORE NEXT