A singer for whom singing is as simple as breathing. An artist overflowing with imagination and creativity. A woman who, at a time when everything was available on the internet, was still able to create a sensation with her videos. Camille Bertault, however, is by no means a temporary online phenomenon. After all, see for yourself.
Her father is an amateur jazz pianist with whom she often sang. She began playing piano at age 8 and later gained experience at the music conservatory. She listened to singers such as Jeff Buckley, Björk or Serge Gainsbourg as well as Brazilian vocalists. At the age of twenty, she changed direction. She switched to drama and writing and playing sketches for children. “I started singing in cabaret, where I was something between a storyteller and an actor. But it was jazz that had me under its spell,” she recalls. She headed for the Paris Conservatory, which provided her with a solid grounding in harmony, composition and jazz singing.
The next phase of her musical career developed naturally. She recorded herself singing part of Coltrane’s standard Giant Steps. She put the video on YouTube which soon amassed hundreds of thousands of viewings. She then wrote and performed French lyrics to numerous other jazz standards and newer songs. She definitely has no intention of creating music in which the voice serves only as an instrument. She loves lyrics that catch your attention. Camille Bertault’s latest album, Pas de géant, testifies to her appetite for vocal cascades, silky sensitivity, leaning towards acrobatics and overt exuberance. John Coltrane wasn´t able to be around for her arrival, but he´s certainly looking down, smiling.
