Artist: Fréhel
Author: Maurice Vaucaire/Georges Van Parys
Label: Forlane
Year: 1939

In film L'Entraîneuse. Chanteuse réaliste from Paris, nicknamed l'Hirondelle des Faubourgs. Had her roots in Cap Fréhel, Pas de Calais; real name: Marguerite Boulc'h. Authors Georges Van Parys and Maurice Vaucaire were like the French equivalent of Leiber & Stoller, with Edith Piaf as their best client.

Fréhel was the daughter of a concierge, born in 1891 (that's 25 years before Piaf). As a five year old she sang on top of Paris café tables while a blind man passed the hat. Later she made it in Music Hall and was well on her way to become the talk of the town in more elegant circles, when she found the love of her life, Maurice Chevalier, in the arms of Mistinguett, her biggest rival on stage. Fréhel went into voluntary retirement, hiding away in Russia, Romania, finally in Turkey. Eleven years had passed when she reappeared in France, visibly older, heavy and soar. Still she tried to make a comeback. The Olympia theatre billed her as "l'inoubliable inoubliée". This mature Fréhel made it not only on stage and on record, also on the silver screen. She starred in a dozen films, like Pépé Le MoKo with Jean Gabin. That's when she cut her Sans Lendemain.