Jeanne-Marie Sens

• Born — 8 December 1937 • Birthplace — Paris, France • Occupation — * Singer • songwriter • author • editor • Years Active — 1972–present

Jeanne-Marie Sens began recording in the early 1970s, including adopting the Giani Esposito song Les Clowns in 1972, released by the Warner label the following year. Her inspiration is, at times, melancholic, poetic, and refractory in the face of an increasingly dehumanized world. In 1973, her protest song En plein cœur, in which her lyrics are set to music by Jean-Pierre Pouret, achieved success and notoriety. The following year brought her another hit with the prescient and sad portrait of a child cooped up in the city: L’Enfant du 92e, for which she co-wrote the lyrics with Lowery, set to the music of Belgian singer-interpreter Pierre Rapsat. Jeanne-Marie Sens gives the impression that she prefers to live in a world of imagination and fantasy, which is more beautiful than reality, and the many records she aimed at a child audience tend to confirm this. A song from an album of children's songs, Chansons pour de vrai, Volume 2 (1977), brought her the most significant popular success: Tant et tant de temps (So many times), with music composed by Jean-Pierre Castelain. From then on, she worked almost exclusively with this composer. Despite their successful and talented association, however, her popularity declined. In 1981, she signed a plea for acceptance of homosexuality, Il a la tête d’un poète, and she incorporated the petition created that year by Jean-Pierre Castelain for the coming presidential elections, Je donnerai ma voix with a text by Maxime Piolot. After that, she ceased making albums. Her last two 45s have the last beautiful works of the Sens-Castelain partnership: Au jardin un dimanche (1983) and Jalousie and Donne-moi ton sourire (1984). In the early 1990s, she and Hubert Tonka co-founded the Sens & Tonka publishing house.