LetsSingIt the internet lyrics database
en
1
New content available, review now!
Artist info:
Also known as
Verified yes
Rank
Albums9
Songs95
AboutBorn on May 20, 1973, Elsa Lunghini was an only child who grew up in an artistic environment which doubtless influenced her own choice of career. Her father Georges Lunghini was a musician and her mother, Christiane Jobert (sister of the well-known French actress Marlène Jobert), a painter. From an early age, Elsa frequented actors, musicians and painters and made regular visits to film sets. Her glowing skin and angelic face soon caught the attention of directors and young Elsa scored her first film role at the tender age of 6, starring alongside French cinema legends Michel Serrault, Lino Ventura and Romy Schneider in Claude Miller's "Garde À Vue".

T'En Va Pas
Elsa continued her acting career in her teens, appearing in Roger Hanin's film "Train D'Enfer" in 1984. The following year, she played Charlotte Valandrey's sister in "Rouge Baiser" (directed by Véra Belmont). However, the film that really catapulted the sweet-faced teenager to fame was Régis Wargnier's "La Femme De Ma Vie" in 1986. Elsa gave a remarkable performance as Jane Birkin's on-screen daughter, but it was her rendition of the film's theme song, "T'En Va Pas" which really made an impact on the French public. The song, penned by the Italian songwriter Romano Musumarra, rocketed straight to the number 1 spot in the French singles chart in the autumn of 1986, and remained there for two consecutive months ! Elsa's debut single proved to be a phenomenal hit, selling a staggering 1.3 million copies across France, Europe and Asia.

The young teenager was henceforth presented as a child prodigy and marketed as a direct rival to Vanessa Paradis (the French pop Lolita who emerged on the French music scene a few months later). Music would eventually win out over Elsa's acting career, but she continued to grace cinema screens for the time being, appearing in Alain Bergala's "Où Que Tu Sois" in 1987. Later that same year, Georges Lunghini began writing material for his daughter. Elsa went on to score another major hit with one of her father's songs, "Quelque Chose Dans Mon Cœur". The following year, Elsa teamed up as a double act with the young American singer Glenn Medeiros and the duo's single "Un Roman D'Amitié" went on to become the runaway hit of summer 1988. "Un Roman D'Amitié" enjoyed chart success in Asia as well as Europe, selling over 600,000 copies.

First and second albums
Elsa released her debut album in 1988. Entitled simply Elsa, the album included her recent hits, "Quelque Chose Dans Mon Cœur" and "Un Roman D'Amitié", and it came as no surprise to anyone when other single releases from the album sped their way up the charts, too. "Jour De Neige" sold a phenomenal 500,000 copies and was followed by "À La Même Heure Dans Deux Ans" and "Jamais Nous" (a duet with Laurent Voulzy). Despite having taken the French music scene by storm in her early teens, Elsa continued her studies at the local high school. But when she turned 17 she left school and obtained official permission to leave the family home and move into her own apartment (not too far from home, however ! Her parents lived on another floor of the same building).

In 1990, Elsa hopped across the Channel to record her second album in London. She ended up spending three months in the UK capital, in fact, preparing her new material before going into the studio. Rien Que Pour Ça was masterminded by Gus Dudgeon (the legendary producer who worked with Bowie and Elton John and who died in 2002) at the studio controls. Elsa's second album featured 12 tracks, for which all the musics were written by her father (apart from the title track which Elsa set to music herself) and the lyrics were penned by Thierry Séchan and Gérard Presgurvic. The intimate, tender ballads on the album found the young singer wavering between girlhood and womanhood. Following the release of the album, Elsa hit the live circuit with a vengeance, bringing the house down at the Olympia in Paris (November 15 to 25, 1990). She then embarked upon an extensive 4-month tour which took her the length and breadth of France.

Bouscule-Moi
Before releasing her third album Douce Violence in 1992, Elsa underwent a radical change of image, cutting her hair and adopting a more overtly sexy look. No doubt about it, the sweet-faced teenager had become a woman ! The first single release from the album, "Bouscule-Moi" was written by Jacques Duvall, Raymond Donnez and her father Georges Lunghini. But on the whole, Elsa's third album found the young chanteuse leaving her adolescence and her father's influence behind. Meanwhile, things moved on in Elsa's personal life. It was around this time that she met German singer Peter Kröner with whom she had a long-term relationship. The couple had a son together, Luigi, born in July 1994.

In 1996, Elsa returned to the studio to work on her fourth album. But the success of the 80s was behind her and her career appeared to be in danger of running out of steam. Elsa struggled to move on from simple chart ditties to a more personal ballad style but this failed to find favour with her record company, BMG. Her fourth album, Chaque Jour Est Un Long Chemin, made in collaboration with Sade and Patricia Kaas' producer Robin Millar, received good reviews from the critics. But it failed to impress the record-buying public and BMG announced they would not be promoting Elsa from this point on. A few months later, BMG officially broke the recording contract Elsa had signed. A lengthy court battle followed and the singer eventually emerged triumphant, winning damages from BMG.

Meanwhile, Elsa soldiered on with her career, returning to the live circuit at Le Bataclan in Paris in April 1997 and then embarking upon a mini-tour of France. The singer also flew out to play in Seoul (where she still has an impressive following of fans). But her career was beginning to nosedive nevertheless. With no record company and no film roles on the horizon, Elsa inevitably faded from the spotlight. She continued to make regular appearances at collective fund-raising concerts for the French charity "Les Restaurants Du Cœur" and also took part in concerts to raise awareness against AIDS. But her career continued to slip downhill.

In 1999, a new chapter in Elsa's personal life began after she met the Basque footballer Bixente Lizarazu at a "Restaurants Du Cœur" concert. Lizarazu was very much in the public eye at the time, having been part of the World Cup-winning squad the previous year. But the pair managed to keep their relationship a secret from the paparazzi for a good while. In the meantime, Elsa tried to resume her music career. When she appeared on a television chat show in 2000, she announced a new album was forthcoming, but fans had to wait a further 4 years before it saw the light of day !

Back in the studio at last !
In 2002, Elsa concentrated her attention on her acting career, appearing alongside Bernard Giraudeau in the French TV movie "La Mort Est Rousse". The following year, she finally returned to the studio to record the new album she had promised her fans. De Lave Et De Sève was released on her new label, Mercury (Universal), on April 27, 2004, a full eight years after her last offering ! The album credits featured an impressive list of guest contributors including Benjamin Biolay, Keren Ann and Hubert Mounier (former frontman of L'Affaire Louis Trio). Franck Pilant, ex-guitarist from the group Aston Villa, stepped in as producer and Etienne Daho, the King of French Pop, joined Elsa in the studio for a duet on the song "L'Or Et La Poussière." Once again, the album received good reviews from the critics but failed to take off with the record-buying public.

In the summer of 2004, Elsa made another TV movie, "Trois Jours En Juin". In September of that year, the singer triumphed at the Festival International des Arts du Clip, winning an award for her performance in the video for the single "Mon Amour".

Elsa finally re-emerged on the live circuit in September 2005, performing 5 nights in a row at L'Européen, in Paris. Fans were treated to around 20 songs from the singer's back catalogue as well as a performance of "Éternité" (an Etienne Daho adaptation). This mini-series of concerts formed the basis of a live CD and DVD, entitled Connexion Live, released in April 2006.

In 2007, Elsa proved her acting talent once again, starring in the French television film "Où Es-Tu ?" (an adaptation of Marc Levy's best-selling novel). The film was broadcast the following year and in the interim Elsa got down to work preparing material for her next album. The new album, released in September 2008, marked a definitive turning-point in Elsa's career and, as if to confirm her break with her teen-pop idol image of the past, the singer released it under her real name, Elsa Lunghini !

Elsa Lunghini, which found Elsa moving away from the mainstream pop vein she had so successfully mined in the past, was the result of a collaboration with one of France's leading indie producers, Emmanuel Da Silva. Elsa happened to come across Da Silva's work while surfing the internet one day and she instantly felt that they shared the same artistic sensibility. Elsa not only ended up inviting Da Silva to write the majority of lyrics and music on her new album, she also asked him to step in at the studio controls and produce her new album. "Nouvelle chanson" pioneer Dominique A also contributed to Elsa's album, penning the lyrics for "Ce Qui N'Existe Pas" and "Pour Te Voir Gagner, J'Ai Perdu".

Filmography
Garde À Vue (Claude Miller) - 1981
Rouge Baiser (Véra Belmont) - 1985
La Femme De Ma Vie (Régis Wargnier) - 1986
Où Que Tu Sois (Alain Bergala) - 1987
Le Retour De Casanova (Édouard Niermans) - 1992
Pauvre Richard (Malik Chibane) - 2013

Television
La Mort Est Rousse (Christian Faure) - 2002
Trois Jours En Juin (Philippe Venault) - 2005
Où Es-Tu ? (Miguel Courtois) - 2008
Aveugle Mais Pas Trop (Charlotte Brandström) - 2009
La Maison Des Rocheville (Jacques Otmezguine) - 2010
Les Nuits D'Alice (Williams Crépin) - 2011
Section De Recherches (Christian Guérinel) - 2012 (Episode "Les Mailles Du Filet")
Famille D'Accueil (Véronique Langlois) - 2013 (Episode "Akecheta")
Louis La Brocante (Véronique Langlois) - 2014 (Episode "Louis Et Les Bruits De Couloirs")
Commissaire Magellan (Emmanuel Rigaut) - 2014 (Episode "Régime Mortel")
Mon Frère Bien-Aimé (Denis Malleval) - 2017
Cherif - 2017
Parole Contre Parole (Didier Bivel) - 2018
Les Bracelets Rouges (Nicolas Cuche) - 2019
Puzzle (Laurence Katrian) - 2019
Meurtres À Lille (Laurence Katrian) - 2019
Caïn (Thierry Petit) - 2020 (Episode "Larmes De Combat")
Demain Nous Appartient - 2020
Ici Tout Commence - 2020
Léo Mattei, Brigade Des Mineurs - 2022 (Episode "La Cicatrice Intérieure")
Les Randonneuses (Frédéric Berthe) - 2023

Musical DVDs
Connexion Live (Dominique Barniaud) - 2006 (recorded at L'Européen, Paris)

Most Popular Songs (More)

Elsa - In Terza Persona
In Terza Persona lyrics
Elsa
submit lyrics
3,775 (new)
vote!
updated 20 days ago
playlist
Elsa - Un Désir
Un Désir lyrics
Elsa
submit lyrics
vote!
playlist
Elsa - Caravan
Caravan lyrics
Elsa
vote!
playlist
Elsa - Tonight
Tonight lyrics
Elsa
vote!
playlist
Elsa - Joséphine
Joséphine lyrics
Elsa
vote!
playlist
Elsa - Pris Dans Le Système
Pris Dans Le Système lyrics
Elsa
submit lyrics
vote!
playlist
Elsa - Je Viens Vers Toi
Elsa in duet with Étienne Daho - L'Or Et La Poussière
L'Or Et La Poussière lyrics
Elsa in duet with Étienne Daho
submit lyrics
4.5 / 5 (2)
playlist
Elsa - T'En Va Pas [Remix]
Elsa - À La Même Heure Dans Deux Ans

Most Popular Albums (More)

Artists you may also like

Similar genre
Popular on LetsSingIt
New on LetsSingIt
show more artists with similar genre
show this week's top 1000 most popular artists
show all recently added artists

Pictures (32)

ElsaElsaElsaElsaElsaElsaElsaElsaElsaElsaElsaElsaElsaElsaElsa
show more (16-31 of 32)

Fans (2)

Olivia_Kafunerario

Contributors

leaderboard
activity

Comments (0)