Daughter of a shoemaker and a spirited Catalan mother, Danielle Graule was born in Perpignan on 24 November 1944. The southern French town on the border of Spain had found favour with Salvador Dali, who once claimed Perpignan's station was the centre of the universe. Another famous painter, Raoul Dufy, also took up residence there for more than a decade. Young Danielle soon proved to have an artistic bent, too, and she began studying at the local art school in her teens. She had already discovered her real vocation, though, after hearing an Elvis song on the radio when she was ten.

Like many other adolescents from the provinces, Danielle moved up to Paris in 1963 in search of thrills and excitement. Her slim figure, androgynous looks and natural elegance soon attracted attention on the Paris nightclub scene. And Dani, as she became known, was soon posing for top photographers such as Helmut Newton, Jean-Loup Sieff and Richard Avedon whose photos immortalised her as one of the faces of the 60s.

Dani released a debut single in 1966, but she scored the biggest hit of her career two years later with Papa vient d’épouser la bonne. The single sold over a million copies in 1968 (which was a considerable figure in those days). Boosted by her newfound popularity, Dani set off on tour with two leading French stars, Claude François and Alain Chamfort.

In 1970 Dani's debut album went on to win a prestigious music award, obtaining the "Grand Prix de l’Académie Charles-Cros." Following this success she performed four successful seasons at L’Alcazar (1970-1974), proving her talent as a revue leader at the famous Parisian cabaret. Dani established herself as a multi-faceted artist at L’Alcazar, playing Mistinguett and assuming the role of Madame Sans-Gêne in Alain Boublil and Jean-Max Rivière's hit stage musical La Révolution française (featuring music by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Raymond Jeannot).

Dani was chosen to represent France at The Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 with the song La vie à 25 ans. But she never got to perform, France withdrawing its entry as the country plunged into public mourning after the death of President Georges Pompidou. The following year Dani tried her luck again with Comme un boomerang, a song Serge Gainsbourg wrote specially for her, but this time it was the French jury who considered the song too risqué. (Dani would have to wait over quarter of a century before Etienne Daho revived the song as a duet with her and record-buyers sent the song rocketing up the charts).

Dani's model physique began to attract interested glances from the film world in the 70s. French director Roger Vadim offered Dani her first role in La ronde. But it was François Truffaut who immortalised her on the silver screen. After spotting Dani in the street one day, Truffaut whisked her back to his office and insisted she played Jean-Pierre Léaud's fiancé in La nuit américaine (the French cinema classic which went on to win the Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 1973).

Dani was by now at the height of her fame and when Alain Delon suggested she start managing the hip disco, L’Aventure, she followed his advice without a moment's hesitation. The queen of the Parisian night was soon rubbing shoulders with the international jet set, sipping champagne alongside Mick Jagger, Dawid Bowie et al. But Dani's habit of burning the candle at both ends soon led to increasing drug dependency which quickly spiralled out of control. By the end of the 70s Dani had become known as France's answer to Marianne Faithfull and she gradually began to fade from the music scene.

The former 60s muse eventually kicked her habit in the most unexpected way, reinventing herself as a rose-seller. Her passion for flowers led to her opening a boutique called Au nom de la rose in the chic 6^th arrondissement in Paris. And surprised clients often recognised the singer composing bouquets behind the counter. Dani made a half-hearted attempt to make a comeback on the music scene in 1993, recording an album entitled N…comme Never again. Unfortunately, the album produced by Jean-Jacques Burnel (from The Stranglers) sank without a trace.

Roses soon proved to have a thorny side to them, too and Dani found herself sinking beneath a mountain of debts and unpaid tax bills. Declaring herself bankrupt, the ex-singer joined the dole queue and decided to leave the capital and return to her native region in the south of France to recharge her batteries.

Dani soon found herself facing another period of turmoil in her personal life, however, as three deaths of close relatives followed quickly upon one another. First she lost her father, then her sister Jane Renoux (a journalist on the newspaper L’Humanité) and Benjamin Auger, father of her sons, Emmanuel and Julien (who had worked as a photographer on Salut les copains). These deaths deeply affected Dani, but she was determined to bounce back from the edge and pull herself out of depression. Help soon proved to be at hand, however. The former 60s muse – now grandmother of three – was about to make a significant encounter.

Bouncing back like a boomerang

French pop king Etienne Daho engineered a comeback by the underground diva, inviting her into the studio with him to record a duet of Comme un boomerang. The unlikely duo proved a huge hit with the French public and Comme un boomerang (the Gainsbourg song deemed too daring for Eurovision) received extensive airplay in France. In 2002 the song also received critical recognition, being nominated in the Best Song of the Year category at the "Victoires de la musique" Awards in 2002.

Dani's new career was up and running within weeks. And, cresting the wave of her newfound success, the singer was soon back in the spotlight with a compilation of her greatest hits. Best of Boomerang featured all the old favourites from La Fille à la moto (written by Jacques Lanzmann) to Les Sales Mecs (Alain Souchon), Lady Lune (Francis Lai) and La petite qui revient de loin (Pierre Vassiliu). Dani's 'comeback' album also included a special thank-you to her mentor, Etienne Daho, in the form of a new version of Daho's first hit, Mythomane.

Following her infallible musical instincts, Dani soon surrounded herself with a new team of songwriters and composers including Christophe Miossec, Daniel Darc, Alain Chamfort and Philippe Poirier (from the group Kat Onoma). She went on to bring out her fifth album, Tout dépend du contexte, in the autumn of 2003.

Dani also exploded back onto the live circuit, putting in a memorable performance at the Inrockuptibles Festival on 7 November 2003. Currently resting in Pigalle in the artist's atelier she has made her home, Dani is now preparing for a major French tour at the start of 2004 (which will include two Paris gigs: 10 & 11 February at La Cigale). Meanwhile, Dani makes a comeback on cinema screens this autumn, starring alongside another indie rock veteran, Jacno, in Les lionceaux (a debut film by Claire Doyon). Dani, the diva of the French underground, certainly knows how to make a return on all fronts!

February 2004