Biography of Patricia Kaas
Childhood of Patricia Kaas
Patricia Kaas (in Russia her name is often written as Patricia Kaas) became the seventh child in a large family. Father, Joseph Kass, was a Frenchman by nationality and worked as a miner. Mother, Imgrad, is a German, was a housewife.
From an early age, Patricia was fond of music and singing. Already at the age of nine, she performed as part of the Black Flowers group (Black Flowers) on dance floors in local clubs and at festivals. At the age of 13, Patricia signed a contract with the cabaret club Rumpelkammer in the German city of Saarbrücken and performed there every Saturday for seven years under the pseudonym “Pady Pax”.
Patricia Kaas in her youth
Her fees became the main source of income for a large family. In addition to performing in clubs, from the age of 16, Patricia began working in a modeling agency in the city of Metz in northeastern France. So her childhood ended very quickly.
Early success for Patricia Kaas
Once, during a performance in a club, the architect Bernard Schwartz drew attention to her, after meeting he invited the young singer to Paris and introduced him to the songwriter Francois Bernheim from Phonogram Records. He was given a demo of her songs, which he really liked. Berheim convinced his friend Gérard Depardieu to sponsor Kaas’ recording of a single called “Jalouse”. In 1985, the single was released by EMI with lyrics written by Berheim and Depardieu’s wife Elisabeth. The song was a failure.
In 1987, Patricia Kaas signed a recording contract with PolyGram Records. In the same year, the famous single Mademoiselle chante le blues (“Mademoiselle sings the blues”) was released, the author of the text of the song was the French poet and composer Didier Barbelivien. The song took 14th place in the French hit parade and was sold in the amount of about four hundred thousand copies. On her birthday, December 5, 1987, Patricia Kaas performed on the stage of the Parisian Olympia – the most prestigious hall in France.
World famous Patricia Kaas
On January 18, 1988, Kaas released her first album “Mademoiselle chante le blues”, which took 2nd place in the charts. Within three months, the album went platinum (more than 350,000 copies) in France, and later in Belgium and Switzerland. In the same year, the singer won France’s most important music award, Victoire de la Musique, in the Discovery of the Year nomination. In 1989, Kaas gave several concerts in Europe and the USSR, and in 1990 she went on her first tour of 12 countries, which lasted 16 months.
In April 1990, Kaas changed her record label to CBS Records and released her second album Scène de vie. The songs of this album were on the top lines of the hit parade for ten weeks. After the release of the album, the singer went on tour, visited 13 countries and gave 210 concerts. She became one of the most popular performers in the world. In 1991, the singer received the world famous music awards World Music Awards and “Bambi”.
April 1993 saw the release of their third album, Je te dis vous, which was recorded at London’s Eel Pie Studio with renowned producer Robin Miller. “Je te dis vous” is considered the most successful album of the singer, it was sold in the amount of two million copies. On tour with this album, the singer gave 150 concerts in 19 countries.
Patricia Kaas with her beloved dog Tequila
The fourth album was “Dans ma chair” (“Inside me”) in 1997, recorded in New York with famous American producer Phil Ramone. The album includes 50 songs by different authors. The singer dedicated it to her parents. The circulation of this album was 750,000 copies. After its release, Kaas went on another tour of 23 countries, during which she gave 120 concerts.
In 1999, Patricia released another album, Le mot de passe, created under the direction of producer Pascal Obispo. In November of the same year, the singer again went on a world tour.
Kaas at present
In October 2001, a collection of songs by Patricia Kaas Best Of was released, which included her best compositions.
In 2002, Patricia Kaas made her acting debut in Claude Lelouch’s And Now, Ladies and Gentlemen, in which she played the female lead, Jane Lester. Patricia recorded the soundtrack “Piano Bar” for this film, and an album with the same name was subsequently released. In 2003, the singer went on tour in Europe, Scandinavia, Finland, Canada, USA, Russia and Japan. Two concerts were held at the Theater Royal, Covent Garden, London.
On December 1, 2003, the album “Sexe Fort” (“The Stronger Sex”) was released. In it, Patricia radically changed her performance style to a more solid one, with elements of rock. In June 2004, the next tour of the singer began, which lasted until October 2005 and covered 25 countries. At the end of the tour, Patricia announced that she intended to take a two-year break.
In the summer of 2007, Patricia began work on a new album, Kabaret, and in February 2008, she recorded her first Russian-language song, Don’t Call, in a duet with the famous Russian band UMA2RMAN. This song has been on the top lines of the Russian charts for a long time. In November, work on the album “Kabaret” was completed. The name is spelled with an error not by chance (in French it is written “Sabaret”), the letter “K” is a hint of the surname Kaas. In support of the album, Patricia gave concerts in Moscow and Khabarovsk, as well as in 11 different countries. In the same period, the singer participated in the advertising campaign of L’Etoile, the largest chain of perfumery and cosmetics stores in Russia, becoming her “face”.
In May 2009, Patricia Kaas performed at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, representing her native country, France. She performed the song “Et s`il fallait le faire” from the new album “Kabaret”. During the voting, she scored 107 points and took 8th place. On February 26 and 27, Kaas performed in Moscow, at the State Concert Hall of the Kremlin, along with other Russian performers.
The latest album to date, “Kaas chante Piaf” (Kaas sings Piaf), was released on November 5, 2012. On December 6, 2012, Patricia performed with the program of this album in Moscow, at the Operetta Theater, and on December 9, at the National Academic Opera and Ballet Theater in Kiev.
In 2012, Kaas played the title role in the film directed by Thierry Binisti “Assassine” (“Murdered”). The singer often visits Russia and gives concerts in Moscow several times a year.
Personal life of Patricia Kaas
The personal life of Patricia Kass was not as successful as her career. In her youth, she confessed her love to Bernard Schwartz, but he did not reciprocate her, refusing her marriage proposal. She experienced a strong shock and because of the experience even got into a motorcycle accident. After that, she focused on her career.
The personal life of Patricia Kaas is often in full swing – she had an affair with Alain Delon himself
At 21, after the death of her mother, Patricia began dating her manager, Cyril Prieur. Their relationship lasted three years. According to the singer, she was not lucky with men, she had many novels, but they never ended in a wedding. For some time she met with the famous actor Alain Delon. Currently, the singer has been living with a man named Philip for more than 4 years, with whom they have complete understanding, they plan to get married and have a child.