Considered the heiress of Léo Ferré, this daughter of Portuguese immigrants born in Lyon was nicknamed the “red pasionaria” or even “the high priestess of French song”.
Rebel and activist, Catherine Ribeiro, who died at the age of 82, was a key figure in experimental music of the 70s, putting her songs at the service of her multiple commitments, before being marginalized and ending her life as a recluse.
“Free and libertarian without ever accepting one clan rather than another,” This daughter of Portuguese immigrants defined herself in 2018 in The Inrockuptibles. After a stint in cinema, this brunette with dark eyes and a deep voice wisely began her singing career in the mid-60s as a yéyé star.
But she refused to linger there and chose parallel paths by creating the group Alpes with Patrice Moullet. She then established herself as the heir to Colette Magny and Léo Ferré and her committed songs earned her the nickname “the red pasionaria” or even “the high priestess of French song”.
Born on September 22, 1941 in Lyon, the daughter of a boilermaker from Portugal, Catherine Ribeiro grew up with only the tall smoking chimneys of the chemical industries of Saint-Fons as her horizon. She packed her bags to go to Paris where she took drama classes that led her to the cinema. She can be seen in particular in The Carabinieri (1963) by Jean-Luc Godard, alongside Patrice Moullet, his future partner in Alpes.
From yéyé to the avant-garde
She also recorded, between 1964 and 1966, about fifteen titles, original creations or covers of Bob Dylan. Her path seemed mapped out, her records sold well. She appeared in April 1966 on the cover of Hi guysin the famous “photo of the century”, with all the rising stars of the song.
Jean-Marie Périer/Hello Friends
But the unruly and tormented young woman – she made several suicide attempts, one of which saw her spend May 68 in hospital – refused this fate. “I don’t want to turn into a cover girl. I’m not interested in singing every day anymore. I’ve wasted too much time,” she says. She opts for the avant-garde and moves towards sounds halfway between psychedelia and progressive rock, between minimalist music and jazz.
Standing Soul, Peace, The Weak Rat and the Man of the Fields, Freedoms?… She made a total of nine albums with Alpes. Her songs reflect her many commitments: for Palestine, for Chilean refugees, against the war in Vietnam, for ecology, against President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing…
Deemed too rebellious and a million miles from commercial standards, she was boycotted by the media. “Catherine’s rebellious beauty and her anger deep in her soul are a nuisance to show business,” said Léo Ferré.
This does not prevent her from finding her audience, often activists like her. She performs in large venues and is a hit in Bourges or at the Fête de l’Humanité where she sings in front of 120,000 people.
A fan named Mitterrand
In 1982, she filled Bobino for three weeks. It was the peak of her career. One evening, she had a famous spectator who slipped in incognito: the brand new socialist president François Mitterrand.
Although she proudly claims her commitments, Catherine Ribeiro finds it hard to be reduced to that. “I’m tired of being made to wear this single red label”she said in 1980. “It’s not me who marginalized myself, I was marginalized! I will reach a wider audience if radio and television channels finally decide to consider me as a singer in my own right.”.
But we won’t see her on stage much anymore. Having withdrawn to the Ardennes in the 1980s, she married the socialist mayor of Sedan, Claude Démoulin. In 2020, she suffered a stroke and had to be hospitalized in a German clinic. In recent decades, she rarely broke her silence. Still performing at the Bataclan and the Francofolies. With the same thirst for commitment: “Until my last breath, I will fight for freedoms.”
She died during the night from Thursday to Friday at the age of 82 in a retirement home in Martigues.