Jeanette (Spanish singer)

Jeanette

Janette Anne Dimech (October 10 1951, London), who performs under the name Jeanette, is a half-Belgian, half-Spanish, English-born, American-raised singer who has resided in Spain since the age of 12, and who sings primarily in Spanish.

Biography

Dimech is the daughter of a Belgian-Congolese father and a Spanish mother. Her mother is originally from the Canary Islands.

Because of her grandparents' import-export business, she lived with her parents first in London, where she was born; and later in Chicago and La Habra, California, where she grew up. After her parents' separation at age 12, she moved to Barcelona with her mother and younger brother and sister. Having grown up in the United States, Dimech initially spoke only English when she first moved to Spain. She was placed in an American school at first, but later befriended some local Spanish children who helped teach her Spanish.

During the 1960s she learned to play guitar and began to write her own songs. She styled her music after American folk music, and her idols included Bob Dylan, Donovan, and the Byrds. Later she joined the student band Pic-Nic as a singer, who in 1969 had a measure of success with a folk version of the Spanish children's song "Cállate niña". Other notable songs of theirs included "Amanecer" and "No digas nada".

After the band split up at the end of the 1960s, she moved to Vienna with her husband, a Hungarian football player named Laszlo Kristof. At the start of the 1970s, she began her solo career with her hit first single, "Soy rebelde" (I am a rebel). On the single, the record label misspelled her name as "Jeanette" (the correct spelling is Janette without the first E.) Ever since then, her stage name has been spelled with the additional E. The single first enjoyed success in Spanish-speaking countries, and later broadened its influence with French and English versions. This song and others penned by Manuel Alejandro, such as "El muchacho de los ojos tristes" and "Estoy triste" established her as an artist in Spain.

In 1981 she recorded another record: "Corazón de Poeta" which was composed, arranged and conducted by Manuel Alejandro, that gave her three hit singles: "Corazón de Poeta", "Frente a frente" & "Un día es un día".

"Porque te vas"

Her greatest success, "Porque te vas", was written by José Luis Perales and remained relatively unknown at the start of 1974. Only when the song was used in Carlos Saura's 1976 film Cría Cuervos (Raise Ravens), and the film went on to be honored at the Cannes Film Festival (Jury grand prize) and the Berlin Film Festival (jury special prize), did the song become internationally known and a hit. In Austria it reached number 13, in Switzerland number 4, and in Germany it even reached number 1.

The song was covered in 1996 by the Brazilian pop-rock band Pato Fu (album "Tem mas acabou"), and in 1997 by Mexican female group "Aurora y la Academia". Also Jose Luis Perales, author of "Porque te vas", recorded the song featuring Amaia Montero from Spanish group La Oreja de Van Gogh In 2006 by the duo Los Super Elegantes. The song which is on the album "Channelizing Paradise" also has an English version done as part of the track. The song also gained somewhat of a cult status in the USSR and later in Russia after it was recorded by the Soviet band Vesyolye Rebyata. The song (with lyrics in Russian and titled "V posledniy raz" (The Last Time)) appeared on the band's 1979 LP "Muzikalniy Globus" (Musical Globe). The Russian lyrics version has been covered by several artists and bands since. In Finland this song is known by the name "Korppi" (which means "Raven" in Finnish), performed by female singer Tuula Amberla.

Although after "Porque te vas" Jeanette never achieved similar international success, she continued singing relatively successfully in Spain and Latin America, and to a lesser degree in France, well into the 1990s.

This song featured in 2005 the French TV Mini series "Trois Femmes ... un soir d'été" (Three Women ... One Summer Evening). This suspense story of a copy in three parts raked 7.5 million viewers for its first episode on 8 August, 2005. In 2007, this Mini series Trois femmes... un soir d'été (Three Women ... One Summer Evening) was telecast by TV5 Monde, on the DTH platform. On its first run, "Porque te vas" gained a lot of fans in India and neighboring countries.

In 2008, an Argentinian commercial production company Landia produced a television ad for Toyota Puerto Rico using the song. It created a phenomenon, and people started looking for the singer. The ad shows a bear stranded from north pole in a city.

Discography

Singles

Pic-Nic

• 1967: Cállate, niña/Negra estrella
• 1968: Amanecer/No digas nada
• 1968: Me olvidarás/Él es distinto a ti
• 1968: Hush, Little Baby/Blamin's Not Hard To Do/You Heard My Voice

Jeanette

• 1971: Soy rebelde/Oye papá, oye mamá
• 1972: Estoy triste/No digas nada
• 1973: Palabras, promesas/Debajo del platanero
• 1974: Porque te vas/Seguiré amando
• 1975: Hoy nos hemos dicho adiós/El mundo con amor
• 1977: Todo es nuevo/Pequeña preciosa
• 1978: No digas buenas noches/Heaven, please, don't let it rain tonight
• 1978: Voy a tener un niño/De mujer a mujer
• 1981: Frente a frente/Cuando estoy con él
• 1981: Corazón de poeta/Comiénzame a vivir
• 1981: Sorrow/A Heart so warm and so tender
• 1982: El muchacho de los ojos tristes/Toda la noche oliendo a ti"
• 1983: Reluz/Más de cien sentidos
• 1983: Con qué derecho/No me fio más
• 1984: Amiga mía/Baila conmigo
• 1984: Ojos en el sol/Buenas noches
• 1989: China/Por nada del mundo
• 1989: Loca por la música/Sinceridad

Albums

Pic-Nic

• 1968: Pic-Nic
• 1969: Cállate niña (International Reissue)

Jeanette

• 1973: Palabras, promesas
• 1976: Porque te vas
• 1977: Todo es nuevo
• 1981: Corazón de poeta
• 1983: Reluz
• 1984: Ojos en el sol
• 1989: Loca por la música
• 1996: Sigo rebelde

External links

• "Porque te vas" on YouTube