Gribouille

Who was Gribouille?

Marie-France Gaîté, better known as Gribouille, was a singer and song writer.

As a teenager, she suffered from mental disorder and for a time was confined against her will to a psychiatric hospital in Lyon. With medication, she was able to function well enough to leave her hometown and moved on to Paris. There, she met Jean Cocteau who got her work singing in a cabaret. In 1963 she joined the roster of Pathé Records. She was hailed as the new Édith Piaf, and compared with Barbara, and had Charles Dumont, who wrote many of Piaf's hits, also wrote for her. Composer Michel Breuzard wrote songs for her, and in 1966 she recorded several 45 rpm records and an album.

She died in Paris, France, of mixing alcohol and medications, at the age of 26. She was buried in the Cimetière de Bagneux in Montrouge, near Paris.