Catherine Ribeiro, Boundary-Breaking French Singer, Dies at 82

Catherine Ribeiro died overnight at a retirement home in the French city of Martigues, Le Monde reports, citing a statement from her representatives to Agence France-Presse. The Lyon-born singer was 82 years old.

Ribeiro was born in 1941 to Portuguese parents. Before her career in music, she appeared in Jean-Luc Godard’s 1963 film Les Carabiniers. Throughout the 1960s, she recorded a number of singles and became a yé-yé star, eventually releasing Catherine Ribeiro + 2Bis, the debut album from her new group with multi-instrumentalist Patrice Moullet, in 1969.

The 2Bis changed their name to Alpes and, with Ribeiro, recorded a slate of psychedelic prog rock albums across the 1970s, eschewing Ribeiro’s yé-yé roots in favor of experimental, uncompromisingly political songs on issues including the Vietnam War and Palestine. Ribeiro + Alpes released their final studio album, La Déboussole, in 1980. Ribeiro followed with solo records in the 1980s and 1990s.

Kim Gordon has been one of Catherine Ribeiro’s most vocal fans, praising the singer in several interviews. “Catherine Ribeiro’s voice is so amazing and the music sounds so—I hate to use the word organic, but I just kind of relate it to the music,” Gordon told The Quietus in 2018. “She is definitely an influence on me.”

Weyes Blood has also expressed her admiration for Catherine Ribeiro (“extremely powerful, wild, improvisatory voice”), and Circuit des Yeux has covered “Sœur de Race.” Mexican Summer imprint Anthology Recordings reissued three of Ribeiro + Alpes’ albums in September 2018: N°2, Âme Debout, and Paix.