Following Camille’s “Thread”

French Popstar Big in the U.K.

23/08/2006 - 

It’s been a while since music fans in the U.K. have succumbed to the charms of a French ‘chanteuse.’ But hot young singer-songwriter Camille has managed to make a major impact across the Channel with her second album, Le Fil (The Thread) – her first to be exported abroad - unravelling her own unique brand of quirky ‘chanson’ and winning rave reviews wherever she goes.

After wowing the French on radio and TV and walking off with a whole string of awards in the process, Camille decided the time was ripe to start spinning her thread further afield in the U.K. The young singer never expected to repeat her lightning success back home in France - where her album Le Fil sold over 400,000 copies within just a few months of its release. She made a tentative start in the U.K., with a low-key release of Le Fil in May 2005, as she prepared to teeter on the notoriously slippery tightrope of the British market. Keeping one eye on the critics, the young Parisian remained enigmatically silent, letting music journalists creep ever nearer – before springing and catching them in her finely-spun web.

Camille’s cunning spider approach soon paid off as an increasing number of critics fell under the spell of her mesmerising vocals, her carefully-crafted lyrics and her charismatic live performances mixing full-on musical intensity with comic asides. The Independent on Sunday (07/05/06) described the young Parisian as "one of the world’s greatest popstars. The world just doesn’t know it yet." Meanwhile The Guardian (9/05/06) presented her as "the new young darling of avant-garde French chanson." Camille went on to perform on a number of high-profile shows such as Charlie Gillett's Saturday Night Show on BBC London (29 April 2006) and Later… with Jools Holland on BBC2 (5 May 2006). These two impressive live performances instantly boosted sales of Le Fil. Meanwhile, tickets for Camille’s concert at the Jazz Café on 3 May sold like hotcakes.

Spinning her web with increasing dexterity, Camille went on to appear at the brand new Latitude Festival, in the north of England, and performed another sell-out gig at the Scala in London on 17 July 2006. With album sales in the U.K. topping the 8,000 mark, the Camille buzz got louder and louder and cult radio presenter and DJ Charlie Gillett hailed the rising French star as the "hottest discovery of the year. " Having tightened the musical thread between France and the U.K. – which has hung lamentably loose in recent years – Camille is now preparing to cast her net further afield and reel in new fans in Spain, Germany and North America. Little by little, carefully following her acclaimed Thread, Camille looks set to climb to international success, winning over new fans and critics along the way.

Virginie Le Baler