Eliane Folleix was born in the Lyon region (in central France) in 1962. Her father was a shopkeeper who owned a local store called "La Droguerie du bonheur" ; her mother was a housewife. But Eliane’s parents, both passionate music fans, would spend every moment of their spare time rehearsing with their band "Black and White". Every weekend the band would be off performing at local dances and it was not long before the Folleix children got involved in their parents’ musical activities. Philippe was drafted in on drums, Corinne played piano and Eliane, the couple’s youngest daughter, became the group’s singer. At the tender age of 12 Eliane got used to performing in front of an audience and soon proved to be a natural on stage. When she was not singing Eliane would attend dance classes and concentrate on learning her songs. Young Eliane possessed a formidable memory and soon proved herself capable of performing a nightly set of 80 songs (her set consisted mostly of French chanson classics and English and American hits from the 1950’s).

After gaining valuable stage experience with her family’s group, Eliane went on to pursue her own solo career in her teens. Adopting the stage name Liane Foly, the talented young singer soon made a name for herself on the nightclub and piano-bar circuit with a catchy repertoire which fused jazz and soul classics with a touch of the blues.

At the age of 18 Liane underwent an operation on her vocal cords which were showing serious signs of wear and tear after almost six years of incessant performances on the Lyon music scene. As soon as she was discharged from hospital, however, Liane was back on the club circuit, where she was rapidly building up a strong following of fans. It was while performing in a nightclub in the Lyon region in 1984 that Liane was spotted by the young French songwriter Philippe Viennet and a musician friend of his named André Manoukian (who would go on to become Liane’s boyfriend). Impressed by Liane’s sensual vocals and her charismatic stage presence, the pair offered to begin writing material for her and Liane soon went into Viennet and Manoukian’s Lyon studio to record a demo tape. After many long hard months in the studio, during which time Liane continued to perform extensively throughout the Lyon region, the trio finally had a demo tape to show in Paris.

Liane Foly arrived in Paris in 1987, accompanied by Manoukian and Viennet, and began looking around for a record deal. The talented young singer did not have to look far. Her demo tape soon fell into the hands of Fabrice Nataf, director of the Virgin France label. Bowled over by Liane’s sensual vocals and her sultry jazz style, Nataf signed the young singer on the spot.

In 1988 Liane Foly went into the studio to record her début album "The Man I Love" (the title was a personal tribute to one of Liane’s greatest idols Sarah Vaughan). Released in March of that year this highly accomplished first album was co-written by Liane Foly and Philippe Viennet and all the musical arrangements were composed by Liane’s partner André Manoukian. "The Man I Love" also included three excellent covers of legendary jazz hits. Infused with a sultry swing / jazz ambience and very much inspired by the glamourous Hollywood stars of the 50’s (such as Hitchcock’s leading lady Kim Novak), Liane Foly’s début album proved a huge critical and commercial success. Foly’s husky vocals combined with Viennet’s sensual, almost erotically-charged lyrics, were an instant hit with the French public and "Love me love moi", the first single release from the album, soon went rocketing to the top of the French Top 50.

Shortly after the release of her album Liane Foly embarked upon an extensive promotional tour, kicking off a successful series of concerts at the Paris club La Cigale on 14 June 1988. But Foly’s first major concert took place the following year when the French star Claude Nougaro invited the young singer to support him at the legendary Paris music hall, L’Olympia, in February 1989. Playing to a capacity audience Liane Foly brought the house down with her catchy jazz-inspired set. After her triumph in Paris Liane was invited to perform at the prestigious Printemps de Bourges festival on 9 April. That summer Ms. Foly would go on to appear at a number of major French festivals, supporting the Italian crooner Paolo Conte at the famous annual jazz festival in Antibes/Juans-les-Pins in June, then going on to appear in Nîmes, where she opened the show for the American star Julia Migenes. On 13 July 1989 Liane Foly headlined at the popular Francofolies festival held in la Rochelle.

Foly flew to London the following year to work on her second album, "Rêve orange". Released in December 1990, this second album would soon prove to be another major hit, confirming the young singer from Lyon as one of the leading female talents on the French music scene.

The album "Rêve orange" also revealed a new-style Liane Foly. Sporting a sleek, dark bob à la Louise Brooks and an entire wardrobe of sexy little black dresses, Liane Foly seemed destined to become the French siren of the 1990’s. The songs on the new album, written by the successful trio Foly/Manoukian/Viennet, drew their inspiration from the French and American jazz world once again, but the tempo of "Rêve orange" was even more mellow and langourous than Foly’s début album "The Man I Love". The new-style Liane Foly certainly proved a huge hit with the French public. "Au fur et à mesure", the first single release from the new album, did extremely well in the charts and Ms. Foly soon went on to triumph at the "Victoire de la musique" awards where she was voted Best Female Newcomer of 1991. Liane Foly soon followed this success with another professional triumph when later that year the Sacem (the French association of Songwriters and Composers) presented her with their prestigious Prix Raoul Breton.

The summer of 91 proved to be a busy time in Liane Foly’s career. After giving another outstanding performance at the Francofolies festival in La Rochelle in July, Ms. Foly went on to appear at the Canadian version of the festival, performing in Montreal at the beginning of August. She then jetted off to England to give a brilliant jazz-inspired show at the legendary London jazz club Ronnie Scott’s. The singer returned to Paris in September, kicking off an extensive winter tour with a show at the Bobino (17 - 28 September). Between 5 October and 21 December Liane Foly was on the road again, taking her hugely successful show to the four corners of France. Liane’s set, which included songs from her two best-selling albums as well as French chanson hits ("Feuilles mortes") and American jazz classics ("Stormy Weather"), brought the house down wherever she went.

By this stage in her career Liane Foly had become one of the most prominent female singers on the French music scene. When, in 1992, the Walt Disney studio were looking for a female singer to record the soundtrack of the French version of "Beauty and the Beast", Ms. Foly was the obvious choice. Thus it was that Liane Foly was invited into the studio with French star Charles Aznavour to record a special duet to accompany Disney’s famous cartoon adaptation of "Beauty and the Beast". This recording would mark the beginning of Liane Foly’s burgeoning international career.

In May 1993 Liane Foly returned to the studio to begin work on a new album entitled "Les Petites Notes". Liane Foly’s third album, another successful collaboration with the winning Manoukian/Viennet duo, was much in the same vein as her two previous albums, Foly’s sultry vocals fusing jazz-inspired rhythms with soft, sensual lyrics. The 11 tracks on the new album (which included the excellent single "Doucement") featured contributions from a number of talented musicians from the jazz world such as accordion star Richard Galliano and drummer André Ceccarelli. Foly, who had her sights firmly set on conquering the United States, also recorded a special version of the album in English, releasing it under the title "Sweet Mystery".

1993 also marked the year of Liane Foly’s screen début, the singer accepting a role in Pierre-Henry Salfaty’s film "Le Bonheur".

The following year Foly turned her attention to her singing career once more, embarking upon a mega-tour which would last several months. In the spring of 94 the singer presented her new show at the famous Parisian music hall L’Olympia, delighting audiences with her cover version of "Misty", the song made famous by the legendary jazz pianist Errol Garner. (Foly would give another memorable performance of this song with French jazz pianist Michel Petrucciani in the course of a live television concert). Another outstanding song in Foly’s new show was an innovative cover of French pop star Etienne Daho’s "Heures hindoues".

Later that year Liane Foly was invited to perform at a special concert in Paris to mark the 50th anniversary of the city’s liberation at the end of World War II. On 25 August 1994 Foly appeared on a giant stage at the Place de la Concorde surrounded by a host of stars including French composer Michel Legrand and American jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgewater.

December 1994 saw the release of Liane Foly’s first live album, "Lumières", which successfully captured all the energy and passion of the singer’s famous live shows.

The following year Liane Foly devoted a great deal of time and energy to charity work. At the beginning of the year the singer went into the studio to record a contribution to the "Sol en Si" compilation album, designed to raise funds for the children’s AIDS charity "Solidarité Enfants Sida". Foly returned to the studio shortly afterwards to record a song on another AIDS fund-raising album entitled "Entre sourire et larmes". Later that year Foly also teamed up with a number of other French stars for the annual Concert des Enfoirés to raise money for "les Restaurants du cœur" (an association set up by the late great French comedian Coluche to provide hot meals for the homeless). Foly had already taken part in the famous Concert des Enfoirés in 1993 where French stars had performed songs from Michel Berger and Luc Plamondon’s hit musical "Starmania".

1996 proved to be a year of great change in Liane Foly’s personal and professional life. The singer separated from André Manoukian, her long-term lover and songwriting partner and also cut all ties with Philippe Viennet, her other musical accomplice of many years. Liane Foly would also opt for a new look, undergoing plastic surgery to transform her nose.

At the end of 96 Liane Foly returned to the recording studio once more to begin work on a new album, rather aptly entitled "Caméléon". Working with a team of American musicians and songwriters, Foly began to move in a new musical direction, leaving her jazz influences behind to explore funk and rhythm'n'blues. "Caméléon", which was released on 22 April 1997, was partly recorded in Los Angeles, partly in Paris and featured tracks written by Liane’s brother Philippe and a new songwriter by the name of Hervé Gourdikian. Foly, who had decided to take control of her career at this point, also played a much greater role in her new album’s production, supervising every step of the recording and mixing process.

With her sights still set on conquering an international audience, particularly in the U.S.A, Liane Foly plans to record a Spanish and an English language version of her album "Caméléon". These new versions are set for release later this year.

Following an impressive performance at the Zénith in Paris in November 97, Liane Foly embarked upon an extensive national tour which lasted through till January 98. However, the singer had chosen to integrate a number of American influences into her show, which were not always to French audiences' liking. Indeed, many of Liane Foly's French fans were decidedly unimpressed by the new musical direction Foly's career was taking and they began staying away from her concerts. Consequently, several dates on the singer's tour had to be cancelled at the last minute.

Meanwhile, Liane Foly was also having a few problems with her album sales. Indeed, the singer's album "Caméléon" got a decidedly lukewarm reception from the French public. Undaunted, Foly returned to the studio the following year and recorded an acoustic version of four tracks from the album. The songs were released on the singer's new album "Acoustique", together with new acoustic versions of a number of her greatest hits. The album "Acoustique", released in February 99, also featured a number of interesting cover versions including Etienne Daho's "Heures hindoues", Daniel Balavoine's "la Vie ne m'apprend rien" and Nicoletta's "Il est mort le soleil". Liane Foly also paid a special tribute to the late French chanson star Barbara on the song "Dame brune".

In spite of the disappointing album sales of "Caméléon", Liane Foly is still considered to be one of the leading French chanteuses of the 1990’s. The singer’s superb vocals and her wonderfully sultry style have attracted a firm following of fans across the country, and she has been single-handedly responsible for infusing the French music scene with a much-needed touch of "swing".

In the beginning of 2000, Liane took part in the Enfoirés Tour for the Restos du Cœur (a French charity founded by the famous French comedian Coluche) before releasing a new album on February 26^th 2000. Entitled "Entre nous", this album stands as a more personal piece of work since Liane wrote or co-wrote most of its songs. A number of big names from the French music scene also contributed to it—Gerard Presgurvic for "On a tous le droit" (We All Have The Right), Patrick Fiori and Maxime Le Forestier for "Toujours autant besoin d’amour" (Still Such A Need For Love)—and the famous French theatre director Robert Hossein did a cover of ‘La Chanson d’Helene’ (the title song of Claude Sautet’s film, ‘Les choses de la vie’, starring Michel Piccoli and Romy Schneider).

After surviving a brief, hitless period in the music wilderness, Liane Foly found her career taking off again at the beginning of 2001. Invited to guest on numerous chat shows and music programmes, the singer had the pleasant experience of seeing her record sales start to climb again. Indeed, Liane's new album, "Entre nous", rocketed to the no.3 spot in the French album charts in March 2001.

In Fall 2002, she released a compilation of her greatest hits entitled "Au fur et à mesure". It also featured two previously unreleased tracks: "Vivre" and "A l’intérieur". The first one was penned by Gérard Presgurvic. In January 2003, she travelled to Lille to take part in the recording of the new album of the Restos du Coeur, "La Foire aux enfoirés".

In the autumn of  2004, Liane Foly released an album of original songs entitled "La Chanteuse de bal". The album was a mélange of jazz and middle-of-the-road French pop, with the title track written by Jean-Jacques Goldman. On this album she also called on former collaborators André Manoukian and Philippe Viennet, who wrote for her "La double vie", a song about homosexuality, while Alice Dona composed the music for "Déracinée", written by Liane herself and arranged by André Manoukian. 

This highly personal album demonstrated a desire to find a new way forward (despite the fact that Liane continued to veer between jazz and mainstream pop without firmly settling on either). In March 2005, the singer kicked off another tour of France, performing at the Casino de Paris from May 17-19.