Sylvie Vartan (born Sylvie Georges Vartanian on 15 August 1944) is a Bulgarian-Armenian-French singer and actress. She is known as one of the most productive and tough-sounding yé-yé artists. Her performances often featured elaborate show-dance choreography,[and she made many appearances on French and Italian TV. Yearly shows with then-husband Johnny Hallyday attracted full houses at the Olympia and the Palais des congrès de Paris throughout the 1960s and mid-1970s. In 2004, after a break in performances, she began recording and giving concerts of jazz ballads in francophone countries. Sylvie Vartan was born in Iskrets, Sofia Province, in the then Kingdom of Bulgaria. Her father, Georges Vartanian (1912–1970), was born in France to a Bulgarian mother named Slavka and an Armenian father. He worked as an attaché at the French embassy in Sofia. The family shortened the name Vartanian to Vartan. Her mother, Ilona (née Mayer 1914–2007), daughter of prominent architect Rudolf Mayer, was of Hungarian-Jewish descent. When the Soviet Army invaded Bulgaria in September 1944, the Vartanian family house was nationalised and they moved to Sofia. In 1952, a friend of Sylvie's father, film director Dako Dakovski, offered her the role of a schoolgirl in the movie Pod igoto, a film about Bulgarian rebels against the Ottoman occupation. Participating in the film made her dream of becoming an entertainer come true. The hardships of postwar Bulgaria made the family emigrate to Paris in December 1952. At first they stayed in the Lion d'Argent hotel near Les Halles, where Georges found a job, then for the next four years they stayed in a single room at the Angleterre Hotel. Young Sylvie had to work hard to keep up at school and blend in with her schoolmates. She spent two years learning French. In 1960, her family moved to an apartment in Michel Bizot Avenue. Thanks to the influence of her music producer brother Eddie, music became teenage Sylvie's main interest. Her most influential genres were jazz and, out of spite toward her strict high school, rock 'n' roll. Her favourite artists included Brenda Lee, Bill Haley, and Elvis Presley. In 1961, Eddie offered Sylvie the chance to record the song "Panne d'essence" with French rocker Frankie Jordan. The Decca Records EP was a surprise hit. Although she was not credited on the sleeve, "Panne d'essence" provided Vartan her first appearance on French television. The journalists gave her the nickname la collégienne du twist. After the "twisting schoolgirl" had finished the Victor Hugo High School, she was free to sign a contract with Decca Records to start recording her own EP; carrying the title song "Quand le film est triste", a cover of Sue Thompson's "Sad Movies (Make Me Cry)", the EP was on sale by the beginning of December 1961. ... Source: Article "Sylvie Vartan" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.

Filmography

• 2025Once Upon My Mother — Sylvie Vartan
• 2013It Happened in Saint-Tropez — Une people à Cannes soirée Melko
• 2001Mausolée pour une garce — Agnès Taride
• 1994The Black Angel — Stéphane Feuvrier
• 1972Malpertuis — Bets
• 1972Repeated Absences — Une femme à la soirée mondaine
• 1967The Ponies — Sylvie Vartan
• 1964Cherchez l'idole — Sylvie Vartan
• 1964Friends of the family — Alexa Rollo
• 1963Where Are You From, Johnny? — Gigi
• 1962Un clair de Lune à Maubeuge — La chanteuse yéyé

Appearances as themselves (61)

• 202525 ans de Laurent Gerra à la radio — Self : Guest
• 2025Hallyday par David — Self
• 2025Sylvie Vartan - Je tire ma révérence — Self
• 2025Sylvie Vartan, vous et moi — Self
• 2023David Hallyday — Self
• 2023L'Âge d'or de la pub — Self (archive footage)
• 2023Unknown Beauty: François Nars — Self
• Il était une fois Champs-Élysées — Self (archive footage)
• 2022La TV des 70's : Quand Giscard était président — Self (archive footage)
• 2022Paul McCartney - Eine Beatles-Legende — Self
• 2022Sheila, toutes ces vies-là — Self (archive footage)
• Archives secrètes — Self (archive footage)
• 2021Michel Sardou une vie en chantant — Self
• 2021Sylvie Vartan : le récital — Self
• La Boîte à secrets — Self
• The Secret Song — Self
• Quotidien — Self - Guest
• 2015Sylvie raconte Vartan — Self
• 2014Roger Kasparian, l'oeil des 60's — Self
• C à vous — Self, Self - Guest
• 2009Johnny Hallyday : Tour 66 - Stade de France — Self
• 2008L’ange et la femme: le cinéma de Jean-Claude Brisseau — Self
• 2008Rare and Unseen: The Beatles — Self
• On n'est pas couché — Self - Guest
• Star Academy — Self
• The Apartment — Self - Guest
• Vivement dimanche — Self
• 1993Johnny Hallyday : Parc des Princes 93 — Self
• Stars 90 — Self
• Le monde est à vous — Self
• Sacrée soirée — Self
• Miss France — Self - Judge
• Victoires de la musique — Self
• Die verflixte 7 — Self
• 1984Sunset People — Self
• Champs-Elysées — Self
• 1982Sylvie Vartan: Live in Las Vegas — Self
• The Big Show — Self
• 1979Carlos Numéro 1 — Self
• Bio’s Bahnhof — Self
• Fan School — Self
• 30 millions d'amis — Self
• Les Rendez-vous du dimanche — Self
• Midi Première — Self
• Numéro un — Self, Self - Host, Self (archive footage)
• Système 2 — Self
• Klimbim — Self
• 1972J'ai tout donné — Self
• Le Grand Échiquier — Self
• Midi trente — Self
• Baden-Badener Roulette — Self
• Cadet Rousselle — Self
• Samedi soir — Self
• Unsere kleine Show - Musik zur blauen Stunde — Self
• À bout portant — Self
• Europarty — Self
• Dim Dam Dom — Self
• Seize millions de jeunes — Self
• 1963Just for Fun — Self
• The Mike Douglas Show — Self
• Discorama — Self