Camille

Camille Dalmais (born 10 March 1978), better known by her mononym Camille, is a French singer and occasional actress.

Camille was born and raised in Paris. Her mother was an English-language teacher and her father, Hervé Dalmais, was a musician. As a teenager, she studied ballet and developed an interest in bossa nova music and American stage musicals. She attended the prestigious Lycée International de Saint Germain-en-Laye, where she obtained her baccalaureate in literature. Thanks to her mother being an English teacher, Camille speaks English fluently as well as her native French. She performed her first original song "Un Homme Déserté" at the age of sixteen while attending a wedding. In the early 2000s, while performing at jazz clubs in Paris, Camille made her acting debut in the film Les Morsures de l'aube (by Antoine de Caunes; with Asia Argento and Guillaume Canet). She also contributed to the song "La Vie la Nuit" in its soundtrack.

She attended Sciences Po Paris just before beginning her music career.

In early 2002, Camille signed a recording contract with Virgin Records. She released her first studio album Le Sac des Filles. In 2004, she began working with Marc Collin and his band Nouvelle Vague, which incorporates new wave and bossa nova music. She contributed vocals to the songs "Too Drunk to Fuck", "In a Manner of Speaking", "The Guns of Brixton", and "Making Plans for Nigel" on their first album.

In 2005, she released the album Le Fil, which was produced in collaboration with English producer MaJiKer. This album incorporated an avant-garde concept – a string, or thread ("le fil"), which was a drone that persisted throughout the entire course of the album. All of the songs on this album are based on the exploration of the voice, with only a double bass, bass guitar, guitar, trombone, percussion, or keyboard as accompanying instruments. Le Fil quickly became certified gold. The song "Ta Douleur" was voted 26th in Australia's Triple J Hottest 100, 2006.