Vanessa Paradis Mini Biography

Vanessa Paradis was born at Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, near Paris.

Her first TV appearance was on the show L'École des fans in 1980. She recorded her first single, "La Magie des surprises-parties", in 1985. Although not a hit, it paved the way for the song with which she would become internationally famous, "Joe le taxi", in 1987, while she was still only 14 years old. It was #1 in France for 11 weeks and, unusually for a song sung in French, was released in the United Kingdom the following year, where it reached #3. It was taken from her first album M&J (it stands for Marilyn & John) which, although it gained a number 13 placing in France, drew little attention in the UK and did not chart. She then released Variations sur le même t'aime in 1990, containing the Lou Reed remake "Walk on the wild side".

In 1992 she moved to the United States, working with rock musician Lenny Kravitz, who was her boyfriend for a while. Paradis started working on a new album in English, a language in which she was now fluent. Written and produced by Kravitz, the album, entitled Vanessa Paradis, topped the French chart and briefly made the UK listings (number 45). One of the singles from it was "Be My Baby", which made number 5 in France and gave her another Top 10 UK hit (number 6). She has since appeared in several films, most famously Noce Blanche, for which she won the 1990 César Award for Most Promising Actress; 1999's La fille sur le pont (also known as Girl on the Bridge), which became an arthouse box office hit in the United States; and 2004's Mon Ange.

In 1991, Paradis promoted a fragrance for Chanel, entitled Coco. In the advertisement, she is dressed in all black and feathers, portraying a bird swinging in a cage. In 2004 she promoted Chanel's new handbags called Ligne Cambon. In 2006 she modeled for Chanel again for The New Mademoiselle handbag. 2008 Vanessa modeled for a new company Miu Miu. On the musical side, she is included in the French children's album and concert "Le Soldat Rose". Paradis currently released a new album (Divinidylle). There are three versions (regular, limited edition, and the Christmas edition). She started the Divinidylle tour in October. Some concerts were filmed and the DVD/CD of the tour was just recently released. Her latest film DVD release is La Clef. Also, Vanessa recently won two Les Victoires de la Musique awards for her new album Divinidylle. Some of her next projects include a greatest hits cd which includes the commercial jingle "I love Paris in the Springtime" as well as the movies "The Midwife Crisis" and "Un monstre à Paris April" which will be released in 2010.