Camille

Biography

Camille Dalmais (born 10 March 1978), better known by her mononym Camille, is a French singer-songwriter.

Early life and education

Camille was born and raised in Paris. Her mother was an English teacher and her father, Hervé Dalmais, was a musician. As a teenager, she studied ballet and developed an interest in bossa nova music and American stage musicals. She attended the prestigious Lycée International de Saint Germain-en-Laye, where she obtained her baccalaureate in literature. Thanks to her mother, Camille speaks English fluently as well as her native French. She performed her first original song "Un Homme Déserté" at the age of sixteen while attending a wedding. In the early 2000s, while performing at jazz clubs in Paris, Camille made her acting debut in the film Les Morsures de l'aube (by Antoine de Caunes; with Asia Argento and Guillaume Canet). She also contributed to the song "La Vie la Nuit" in its soundtrack.
She attended Sciences Po Paris just before beginning her music career.

Career

In early 2002, Camille signed a recording contract with Virgin Records. She released her first studio album Le Sac des Filles×Le Sac des filles23 September 2002 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks11, 2, 32:362Paris3:463La Demeure d’un ciel3:264Les Ex4:155Mon petit vieux4:296Ruby2:137Le Sac des filles3:128Un homme déserté4:089Je ne suis pas ta chose3:5910Elle s’en va2:5011Là où je suis née4:46. In 2004, she began working with Marc Collin and his band Nouvelle Vague, which incorporates new wave and bossa nova music. She contributed vocals to the songs "Too Drunk to Fuck", "In a Manner of Speaking", "The Guns of Brixton", and "Making Plans for Nigel" on their first album.
In 2005, she released the album Le Fil×Le Fil14 February 2005 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 15 tracks1La Jeune Fille aux cheveux blancs2:172Ta douleur3:073Assise2:174Janine I0:545Vous1:416Baby Carni Bird3:587Pour que l’amour me quitte2:478Senza2:299Janine II0:5310Vertige3:0011Au port2:5612Janine III1:2813Pâle Septembre3:3514Rue de Ménilmontant1:1115Quand je marche39:01, which was produced in collaboration with English producer MaJiKer. This album incorporated an avant-garde concept – a string, or thread ("le fil"), which was a drone that persisted throughout the entire course of the album. All of the songs on this album are based on the exploration of the voice, with only a double bass, bass guitar, guitar, trombone, percussion, or keyboard as accompanying instruments. Le Fil quickly became certified gold. The song "Ta Douleur×Ta douleur2007 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksATa douleur (Henrik Schwarz vocal remix)AATa douleur (Al Usher vocal remix)" was voted 26th in Australia's Triple J Hottest 100, 2006.
In June 2007, Camille performed Benjamin Britten's A Ceremony of Carols and a new a cappella work God is sound (The 12 World Prayers) at L'église Saint-Eustache, Paris.
Camille's song "1, 2, 3" from Le Sac des Filles was used in the television ad for Cacharel's Promesse perfume starring Laetitia Casta and Matthew Avedon. Her song "Waves" was used in Perrier's "Melting" television ad.
Also in 2007, she contributed to the soundtrack of Pixar's Ratatouille, with the song entitled "Le Festin". Additionally, she provides the European French dub voice of Colette in Ratatouille.

Camille's album Music Hole×Music Hole7 April 2008 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Gospel With No Lord3:352Canards sauvages3:443Home Is Where It Hurts4:264Kfir3:445The Monk6:436Cats and Dogs3:297Money Note6:218Katie’s Tea2:449Winter’s Child4:4910Waves5:3111Sanges Sweet4:42 was released on 7 April 2008, again produced in collaboration with MaJiKer. Music Hole was recorded and mixed by Valgeir Sigurðsson. The first single from the album, "Gospel with No Lord×Gospel With No Lord2008 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Gospel With No Lord3:36", was released for online download on 11 February 2008, along with another new song from the album entitled "Money Note×Money Note2008 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracks1Money Note (edit)3:532Money Note6:25".
Her song, "Ta douleur" was featured on the American television program Saturday Night Live. The original sketch aired in October 2010 titled "Les jeunes de Paris" hosted by actress Emma Stone.
She contributed to the track "Putain putain" on Nouvelle Vague's 2010 album Couleurs sur Paris for whom she had previously done work for on their first album. She later appeared on Jérôme Van Den Hole's self-titled album on the track, "Debout".
Her song "Pour que l'amour me quitte", from her 2005 album Le Fil, was covered in Italian superstar Elisa's 2010 acoustic album Ivy in collaboration with her colleague Giorgia.
She is featured in the soundtrack with Hans Zimmer and Richard Harvey to the 2015 French animated film The Little Prince.
Her song "She was" was a theme in the 2022 movie Corsage about the Empress Elisabeth of Austria.
Camille, alongside her partner and longtime musical collaborator Clément Ducol, wrote all of the original songs for Jacques Audiard's Spanish-language musical crime film Emilia Pérez (2024), which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Camille wrote all of the lyrics in Spanish with the assistance of a Mexican translator, and performed the songs for the demo. She also composed the film's original score with Ducol. Camille and Ducol went on to win the Cannes Soundtrack Award. The song "El Mal" granted her, Ducol and co-writer Jacques Audiard the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, and also won the Oscar.

Personal life

She has two children with musician and percussionist Clément Ducol; Marius, born 18 November 2010, and Lila, born in August 2013.