Mick Micheyl

Mick Micheyl (born Paulette Michey; 8 February 1922 – 16 May 2019) was a French singer-songwriter and sculptor. Her songs won a number of national awards and she was considered the leading star of French song in the 1950s and 60s.

Micheyl was born Paulette Michey in Lyon in 1922 and studied at the Ecole Lyonnaise des Beaux-Arts; she started her career as a painter. In 1949 her song Le Marchand de Poésie (The Poetry Merchant), won a French song contest and she moved to Paris to become a singer. She recorded her first album with Pathé-Marconi Records in 1950, and sang in nightclubs and cabarets in the city such as Casino de Paris. Another of her songs, Un gamin de Paris (A child from Paris), was widely acclaimed. In 1953 she won the Grand Prix du Disque of the Académie Charles-Cros with her song Ni toi ni moi (Neither You Nor Me). She also appeared in a number of French films, including Little Jacques in 1953 and Paris Music-Hall in 1957.

In the 1960s Micheyl became a television producer and presenter. She discovered and helped launch the careers of French performers such as Dave, Véronique Sanson and Michel Fugain.

In 1974 she left the entertainment industry and became a sculptor, specializing in steelwork. In 2009 she was forced to stop working with steel as a number of accidents in her studio had made her lose some of her eyesight. Her work included monuments and public art in Villefranche-sur-Saône and Caluire-et-Cuire. Her work is also held in the permanent collection of Musée Masséna in Nice.

In 1991 Micheyl published her autobiography, Dieu est-il bien dans ma peau?