Madeleine Peyroux

Biography

Madeleine Peyroux (born April 19, 1974) is an American jazz singer and songwriter who began her career as a teenager on the streets of Paris. She sang vintage jazz and blues songs before finding mainstream success in 2004 when her album Careless Love×Careless Love14 September 2004 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Dance Me to the End of Love3:582Don’t Wait Too Long3:123Don’t Cry Baby3:184You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go3:285Between the Bars3:456No More3:337Lonesome Road3:128J’ai deux amours2:569Weary Blues3:4110I’ll Look Around4:4911Careless Love3:5212This Is Heaven to Me3:12 sold half a million copies.

Music career

A native of Athens, Georgia, Peyroux grew up in New York and California, before moving to Paris at the age of 11–12. In interviews, she has called her parents "hippies" and "eccentric educators" who helped her pursue a career in music. As a child, she listened to her father's old records and learned to play her mother's ukulele.
When she was thirteen, Peyroux's parents divorced, and she moved with her mother to Paris, France. Two years later she began singing with street musicians in the Latin Quarter. She joined a vintage jazz group called the Riverboat Shufflers, then The Lost Wandering Blues and Jazz Band, with whom she toured Europe.

Discovery and breakthrough

Peyroux was discovered by a talent agent from Atlantic Records, which released her debut album, Dreamland×Dreamland1 October 1996 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Walkin' After Midnight4:492Hey Sweet Man4:013I'm Gonna Sit Down And Write Myself A Letter3:444(Getting Some) Fun Out Of Life3:145La Vie En Rose3:216Always A Use2:417A Prayer2:368Muddy Water3:329Was I ?2:4610Dreamland3:3111Reckless Blues3:0512Lovesick Blues2:18 (1996). She recorded cover versions of songs from the 1930s and '40s (Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith, Fats Waller) with a group of seasoned musicians: James Carter, Cyrus Chestnut, Leon Parker, Vernon Reid, and Marc Ribot. A year later she covered the song "Life is Fine" for a Rainer Ptacek tribute album.
In 2004 she released the EP Got You on My Mind with William Galison. Her second full-length album, Careless Love×Careless Love14 September 2004 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Dance Me to the End of Love3:582Don’t Wait Too Long3:123Don’t Cry Baby3:184You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go3:285Between the Bars3:456No More3:337Lonesome Road3:128J’ai deux amours2:569Weary Blues3:4110I’ll Look Around4:4911Careless Love3:5212This Is Heaven to Me3:12, was released by Rounder Records and produced by Larry Klein. Careless Love was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) after having sold half a million copies. It included songs by musicians such as Bob Dylan, Hank Williams, and Leonard Cohen. Klein produced her next album, Half the Perfect World×Half the Perfect World12 September 2006 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1I’m All Right3:282The Summer Wind3:553Blue Alert4:114Everybody’s Talkin’5:115River5:206A Little Bit4:037Once in a While4:008(Looking for) The Heart of Saturday Night3:279Half the Perfect World4:2110La Javanaise4:1111California Rain2:5812Smile3:58, which was recorded with Jesse Harris, k.d. lang, and Walter Becker. Half the Perfect World reached No. 33 on the Billboard magazine Top 200 albums chart. Klein and Becker returned to work with Peyroux on her album Bare Bones×Bare Bones6 March 2009 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Instead5:132Bare Bones3:263Damn the Circumstances4:374River of Tears5:215You Can’t Do Me5:046Love and Treachery4:207Our Lady of Pigalle5:288Homeless Happiness3:599To Love You All Over Again3:5910I Must Be Saved4:4511Somethin’ Grand3:44 (Rounder, 2009). She wrote all the songs on the album, co-writing some with Klein and Becker and Julian Coryell. Two years later, Standing on the Rooftop was released by Decca Records, produced by
Craig Street, and recorded with Christopher Bruce, Charley Drayton, Meshell Ndegeocello, Marc Ribot, Jenny Scheinman, and Allen Toussaint.
In her guitar playing, Peyroux eschews the use of a plectrum or fingerpicks, and uses effects sparingly.

Later career

In 2004, the release of Peyroux's planned second album was delayed because of problems with her vocal cords. These were attributed to over-use of her voice as a result of intensive touring. After discovering a cyst on her vocal cords, she needed surgery, and attempted to recover by re-training her voice. She stated that it took years to rebuild her voice, and she considered giving up singing.
In 2006, she successfully released Half the Perfect World, and in the same year performed a live session at Abbey Road Studios, UK, which was released on the album Live from Abbey Road. During the next year she won Best International Jazz Artist at the BBC Jazz Awards.

Reception

In 2013 a New York Times music writer compared her vocal style to that of Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Edith Piaf. Her song "A Prayer" appeared in the television show Deadwood (2005), and her version of "J'ai deux amours" was included in the film Diplomacy (2014).

Collaborations and guest appearances

With William Galison

Got You on My Mind (Waking Up, 2004)
With The Lost Wandering Blues and Jazz Band

Spreading Rhythm Around
With The Sachal Ensemble

Song of Lahore (Universal, 2016)