This week’s LOUIE is a 1973 recording by Line Renaud. (No, it’s not the graphic at the top of this post…. keep reading)
Line Renaud is a popular French singer, actress and AIDS activist whose career began at the age of 16, working with well known French composer LOULOU Gasté. Gaste became her mentor, and they eventually married, with a longtime union that lasted 45 years, ending with his death in 1995.
I wasn’t as familiar with her career, but I discovered quite an impressive legacy spanning many decades of stage, screen, and musical recordings. In 1954 alone, she appeared on Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, Dinah Shore and Ed Sullivan shows and recorded the song ‘Relax ay voo’ with Dean Martin. The IMDB page for her listed acting credits in 64 different film/television productions. She’s also produced quite a few her own stage productions. In 2000, a “Golden Palm Star” on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to her.
Here I was thinking, she was “just another pop singer singing LOUIE LOUIE.”
Silly me. She’s much more than that.
That being said, this is a very cool version of the song, transforming an American rock song into a catchy French pop song. This recording was released as a single on the MGM label (MGM 14500) in 1973.
The original single is a bit tough to find, but luckily it’s been reissued as part of a comprehensive 5-CD box set entitled “100 Chansons D’or” that’s quite a bit easier to find. Thanks to the magical interwebs*, I found multiple websites selling this box set for under $20 – considerably cheaper than the original single!
Anyways to quote another, let’s give it to ’em… right now! Here’s LOUIE LOUIE by Line Renaud!
As I mentioned briefly, the top graphic is NOT from 1973 MGM. It’s just a cute little image of a Line Renaud EP entitled “Jalouise” that came on on the Pathe label in 1956. It’s a “pre-LOUIE LOUISE,” so to speak…
Reference:
Official Line Renaud webpage
http://www.linerenaud.com/
Wikipedia page for Line Renaud
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_Renaud
IMDB page for Line Renaud
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0719232/
An incomplete discography for Line Renaud (no mention of LOUIE LOUIE, but cool graphics)
http://www.encyclopedisque.fr/artiste/3921.html
* = Yes, I know “interwebs” is not a proper term, but I still like using it. So there!