Catherine Lara

Born in Poissy in 1945, Catherine Lara trained in violin and harmony at the Conservatoire de Paris before turning to chanson, first as a musician supporting other performers and later under her own name. Over the 1970s she developed a repertoire in which French-song writing remained linked to a strong classical culture, with the violin at the core of the sound. Her course shifted toward a more pop and rock orientation in the early 1980s without abandoning that melodic and instrumental foundation, as albums such as La Rockeuse de diamants (1983) and Au milieu de nulle part (1986) demonstrate. She subsequently extended her work across records, stage music and productions, giving considerable weight to composition. She notably collaborated with Luc Plamondon on the musical Sand et les Romantiques (1992). Long present on Francophone stages, Catherine Lara has built a distinctive career between chanson, pop-rock and writing rooted in her classical training.