Anaïs Croze

Anaïs, full name Anaïs Croze (born August 20, 1976), is a French singer. Her first album, called The Cheap Show, was recorded live in January 2004 and released in 2005. The Cheap Show, a pun on "peep-show", is titled such as she is the only musician on stage and makes extensive use of her JamMan pedal. Anaïs was born in Grenoble and grew up in Marseille; she studied English in Aix-en-Provence.

She was the lead singer, composer and lyricist in Opossum from 1999 to late 2002 when the renowned band split after about 200 gigs in France, Switzerland and even Germany, and a seven-track CD called Excuse-moi, j'voulais te d'mander (Sorry, I Wanted To Ask You). Anaïs then went on a successful solo tour in March 2003 with personal songs and characters full of wit and energy.

Her show, the Cheap Show, was based on raw rock energy, minimalism and stand-up, a guitar and a loop pedal she used for voice only. She is also famous for her elastic voice, imitating or simply paying live tributes to well-known and established Francophone singers like Francis Cabrel, Eddy Mitchell, Latin (Shakira), American (N.E.R.D, Kelis), Italian-born Carla Bruni or French Canadian Lynda Lemay, and poking fun, among others, at teenage flirts (Mon cœur, mon amour), Scottish or New Orleans folklore, and various accents ranging from typical Scots to Québécois.

Anaïs, who started singing as a child in a choir and has always wanted to be an actress and more recently a film director, could be described as a modern trobairitz inasmuch as she not only sings about herself and the world around her but also acts and plays the parts of caricatured stereotypes of our times. Although her main concerns seem to be love (Christina), she also tackles more serious problems, but on a light and funny note as ever, like racism (Elle sort qu'avec des blacks), depression and solitude (La vie est dure).

Her musical style is a happy mixture of folk, pop blues, chanson, rap and even raggamuffin and heavy metal. Her self-acknowledged influences are quite eclectic: Judy Garland and Bette Midler for their music hall artistry; Jerry Lee Lewis for his rough or/and country music side; Brenda Kahn for derision; Canadian Peaches for minimalism; Chris Isaak and others like Etta James; the Beach Boys; Marie Dubas, a French interwar cabaret entertainer whom she quite resembles and describes as "a true hurricane of a woman"; and the White Stripes because "they understood everything about blues and rock".

Although Anaïs did learn musical theory and the violin as a little girl, and later the clarinet, she now confesses she can only play the guitar for her own songs and does not even know the names of chords and tunings! This relative innocence is undeniably part of her charm and talent, and only adds to the magic of her songs. Her irresistible sense of humour and interactive stage performances make Anaïs a promising and original chanteuse, whose self-produced album and refreshing TV appearances have been praised by the public and professionals alike.

... Source: Article "Anaïs Croze" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.