REGINA. Singer and actress, Régine, who had long reigned over Parisian nights, died at 92. She leaves behind 50 years of career and hits like “Les p’tits papiers” or “La grande Zoa”.
The essential
- The undisputed queen of Parisian nightlife is no more. Singer and actress Régine died on Sunday May 1, her family announced in a press release sent to AFP. She was 92 years old.
- “Régine left us peacefully on May 1 at 11 a.m.” in Paris, her granddaughter, Daphné Rotcajg, wrote to AFP.
- The little papers, The big Zoa, Women are fagot, Open your mouth, close your eyes… Régine will have offered to the French song some of its great classics… irreverent.
- Since the announcement of his death, tributes to the artist rain on social networks. Thousands of anonymous people, but also personalities like Pierre PalmadeJane Birkin or Line Renaud salute the memory of “the night queen”.
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And immediately
11:48 – Régine, also at the cinema
Singer and businesswoman, Régine was a tireless jack of all trades. She even appeared on the big screen, appearing in the credits of a dozen films, including killing game d’Alain Jessua in 1967, Robert et Robert de Claude Lelouch in 1978 or Les ripoux by Claude Zidi in 1984.
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11:26 – How Régine changed the face of party nights
If the world knows Régine as the singer with the very Parisian banter and the businesswoman, she also revolutionized the world of the night and is even at the origin of the concept and the word discotheque. It was she who brought into her establishments hits imported from the United States, contributing to the arrival in France of dances such as the twist or the cha-cha-cha, replacing the traditional slows.
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10:58 – The tragic story of Claude, Regine’s first love
If Régine was married twice, her first love was called Claude. When she was 14, he made her a promise: to marry her as soon as she was 15. But Claude is deported the day he makes his request to the Chief Rabbi of Lyon, as she recounts in this excerpt:
Régine joins Claude, her great love never forgotten, deported the very day he had asked to be able to marry her, June 6, 1944, while she was in hiding. Memory of Régine, who knew, like no one in an interview, how to go from extreme humor to extreme tenderness. pic.twitter.com/HnqAHvQVOi
— Darius Rochebin (@DariusRochebin) May 1, 2022
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10:41 – Régine, singer and businesswoman
If Régine will remain famous for her songs, she will also have been a tireless businesswoman. Nicknamed “the queen of the night”, she created more than twenty nightclubs in Paris, but also around the world. “My first job was nightclubs. For a long time, singing was just a hobby,” said the night owl in 2020 to AFP.
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10:27 – “The night has lost its queen” for Line Renaud
Among the tributes paid to Régine, that of the former reviewer, Line Renaudwho wrote on Twitter: “Régine is gone. Our paths have crossed a thousand times. La Nuit is an orphan, she has lost her Queen. I send all my condolences to her family and loved ones.”
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10:12 – Pierre Palmade’s tribute to Régine
The disappearance of Régine pains many French people, anonymous or famous. His longtime friend, comedian Pierre Palmade, posted a long message on his Instagram account: “My Régine! My friend, my confidante (…) You knew at a glance to recognize the chic types bad people. I loved having your opinion on my friends, you were never wrong. And then there were your incredible songs… often funny, poignant too, with your talent as a realistic singer for whom everyone wanted to write You were familiar with Sagan and Marlene Dietrich, you introduced me to Bruce Willis and Liza Minelli to make me happy… You knew everyone. You spoke frankly, you spoke the truth, with an irresistible humor when it came to cutting. suits! I was in your little papers and I’m proud of it, you took me as I was without judging me. And I’m going to miss that, someone who loves me without judging me. audience be curious to listen to your songs and learn about your life through your books because you are, you were, exciting. I love you for all of Régine’s life. Your Peter.”
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09:59 – Régine was sick
At 92, the singer Régine died. According to her friend Jane Birkinthe queen of the night was taken away by illness.” I knew she was sick, but she is one of those people whose death you can’t imagine. She had such a taste for celebration and life She was great“, confides the singer to the Parisian, without giving more details.
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09:46 – Régine died at 92
Singer and actress Régine died on Sunday May 1, her family announced in a press release sent to AFP during the day. She was 92 years old. “Régine left us peacefully on May 1 at 11 a.m.” in Paris, her granddaughter, Daphné Rotcajg, wrote to AFP.
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Learn more
Since the announcement of his death, tributes to the artist rain on social networks. Starting with that of his close friend, comedian Pierre Palmade. “The queen of the night is leaving: closure due to a long and great career. Leaving with her disco ball and her warm and reassuring banter”, she “had made dance for more than 30 years in her nightclubs the stars around the world,” he wrote in a text sent to AFP. Her first name has thus become “the emblem of crazy nights until dawn, herself dancing on the floor until closing time”, it is added.
Another long-time companion, Jane Birkin, also expressed her sadness, in the columns of Parisian. “At home, it was always open for friends. She was really a human person with a big heart. We sang together for undocumented migrants because, as soon as she could put herself at the service of “a cause, she was doing it. I knew she was sick, but she’s one of those people whose death you can’t imagine. She had such a taste for partying and living. She was brilliant”, says the singer.
For her part, the former magazine leader Line Renaud wrote on Twitter: “Régine is gone. Our paths have crossed a thousand times. La Nuit is an orphan, she has lost her Queen. I send all my condolences to her family and to his loved ones.”
“Gainsbourg’s little papers or Frédéric Botton’s La grande Zoa, but also Barbara, Sagan, Renaud, Marc Lavoine or even Serge Lama, all were inspired by the authenticity of this little Jewess hidden during the war”, underlines Pierre Palmade in his text transmitted to AFP at the disappearance of the singer, summarizing the incredible life of Regina.
During her career, which began in the 1950s, Régine owned up to 22 clubs that bore her first name around the world, starting with the mythical “Chez Régine”, near the Champs-Elysées. A businesswoman, she was also a known and recognized singer, notably thanks to successes like The big Zoa, Light blueLare little papers or Patchouli Chinchilla.
Régine has also appeared in the cinema, in a dozen films, such as killing game by Alain Jessúa, Robert and Robert by Claude Lelouch or Crooked cops by Claude Zidi. Having become an icon in France, she was also one of the rare French people to have conquered America: in the 1960s, after a concert at the Olympia, Régine performed, like Edith Piaf, at the legendary Carnegie Hall in New York.
Régina Zylberberg aka Régine was born on December 26, 1929 in Anderlecht, Belgium, to Polish Ashkenazi Jewish parents. She has a brother, who will become Maurice Bidermann, an industrialist in textiles and clothing. At the age of three, Régine and her family left Belgium to settle in Paris, where her father opened a café after the war, La Lumière de Belleville, which the future singer would take care of. In the 1950s, Régine discovered a passion for the night and in 1956 inaugurated her first nightclub, Chez Régine, rue du Four, in the heart of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris.
It is the first stone of her career as “queen of the night”, since the artist will open about twenty other establishments, all over the world. Alongside this career as a businesswoman, Régine is also, of course, a singer, with many successes. “I am very proud that some of them have become classics of variety (…) My first job was in discotheques. For a long time, singing was just a hobby. Today, I am realize that the scene was the most important in my life”, declared the night owl in 2020 to AFP.
In her repertoire, Régine has several successes, which have made her a popular singer. Here are the five absolutely essential songs of the singer:
- The little papers – 1965: this song was written by Serge Gainsbourg. The latter will have written him twelve. Les p’tits papiers, a huge popular success, will be taken up by many artists after Régine, in particular her friend, Jane Birkin.
- The Great Zoa – 1966: this song evokes Régine’s other passion: the world of the night. The text, written by Frédéric Botton, talks about a transvestite and his nocturnal trips to several places in the capital, “boa around the neck”.
- Open your mouth, close your eyes – 1968: another title illustrating Régine’s banter and irreverence: Open your mouth, close your eyes was also written for her by Serge Gainsbourg.
- Blues – 1972: Serge Gainsbourg also wrote this song, interpreted by Régine and which evokes violence against women. A lesser known song by the artist, which remains important in his career.
- Women are fagot – 1978: another title by Serge Gainsbourg, another irreverent text for Régine. This song evokes prejudice against homosexuals, mocked for a few clichés.
Régine had two husbands. At only 17 years old, on November 7, 1947, the future singer married Paul Rotcage, an apprentice leather worker. Together they have a son, Lionel Rotcage, a journalist born in 1948 and who died in 2006. Régine and Paul Rotcage divorced three years after their marriage. “I divorced, swearing never to have the ring on my finger again. My priority was to set up my nightclubs”, confided Régine in 2016 to Paris Match.
On December 6, 1969, Régine married Roger Choukroun for the second time, in Boncourt, in Eure-et-Loir. Her friend, Françoise Sagan, is her best man. Thirty years later, the couple divorced. “Of the thirty-four years of union with my last husband, we had to share really three”, she counted at Gala.
Régine therefore had an only son: Lionel Rotcage, born in 1948 from her marriage to Paul Rotcage. But after a battle with cancer, the singer’s son died in 2006. “I lost my only son twelve years ago and I will never get over it. Lionel was a journalist and businessman, he is died at the age of 58 from lung cancer. He suffered a lot from having to share me. We didn’t get along all the time, but we loved each other a lot”, confided Régine in the columns of France on Sunday, in 2018.
Before his disappearance, Lionel Rotcage had a granddaughter, Daphné, who also became the mother of a little boy named Léo.
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