It was on 28 September 1982 that Muriel Leroy gave birth to a daughter by the name of Nolwenn. At that time, Nolwenn’s parents were based in the Breton town of St Renan, while her father, Jean Luc Le Magueresse, pursued his career as a professional footballer in the nearby town of Brest. His career would lead to the family moving up and down France. By the age of 4, Nolwenn was living in Paris but the family ended up moving back to Brittany, to live in Guingamp, five years later. Following her father’s transfers, young Nolwenn studied at six different schools before her parents finally separated in 1993. She always remained in touch with her Breton roots, however, maintaining a deep-rooted love of the ocean and an interest in Celtic legends.

Once her parents’ divorce came through, Nolwenn went off to live with her mother in Saint-Yorre (near Vichy). It was here, while in her first year at the Collège des Célestins that her talent was spotted by a music teacher who encouraged her to take up the violin. Her grandmother, Josette, ended up giving Nolwenn her first violin, which happened to be a family heirloom. Nolwenn showed real aptitude for the instrument and went on to develop a veritable passion for music.

Nolwenn soon proved she had more than one string to her bow, however. In 1995, the young teenager won a drawing contest where the first prize was a trip to Mali to distribute supplies to village schools between Gao and Timbuktu. Nolwenn’s experiences in Africa gave her the travel bug and instilled her with a genuine commitment to humanitarian causes. On her return to France, she continued her studies but, in 1998, she took advantage of a cultural exchange organised by the Vichy Rotary Club and headed off to the States for a year where she went on to sit her exams, passing the American equivalent of France’s “baccalauréat.”

Nolwenn - or "Winnie" as her new friends in the States called her – also managed to squeeze in a two-day course at the Performing Arts School in Cincinnati, Ohio. This proved to be a veritable catalyst in her life, leading the budding young talent to discover a passion for singing. On her return to France, Nolwenn took classical singing classes and enrolled at the Conservatoire in Clermont-Ferrand, honing the vocal skills she had discovered in Ohio. Meanwhile, based in Clermont-Ferrand, Nolwenn also signed up to study at the local university, taking a course in American law. At that stage of her life, Nolwenn envisaged a later career working in the world of diplomacy or NGOs (non-governmental organisations). 

In 2001, like thousands of her peers, Nolwenn tuned into the first series of the French TV talent show, Star Academy. Fascinated by Armande Altaï, one of the music teachers on the show, she signed up for a course at Armande’s music school in Paris. This, it no doubt seemed to Nolwenn at the time, was her last chance to attempt to launch a singing career. Armande took the budding young talent under her wing and Nolwenn, totally committed to her new training, took a weekend job in a supermarket in Saint-Yorre to pay for her lessons. Armande had a major hand to play in Nolwenn’s breakthrough for it was she who encouraged her to audition for the second series of Star Academy.

Meanwhile, Nolwenn was also busy auditioning for a role in "Autant en emporte le vent" (the French stage musical adaptation of “Gone with the Wind.”) She received news that she had been chosen as a candidate for Star Academy 2 just a few hours before she was offered the role of Scarlett. Nolwenn opted for the TV challenge and headed off to join the other contestants at the Château de Dammarie-les-Lys on 31 August 2002. After four months of intense competition, the dark-haired beauty finally won the final broadcsat live on French TV on 21 December. That night, millions of viewers across France were wowed by the talent and the on-stage charisma of the enigmatic young singer from Brittany. Following the media frenzy and a marathon round of interviews after she won the show, Nolwenn got to go into the studio to record her debut album at the start of 2003.

A number of leading singer-songwriters (including Lionel Florence, Lara Fabian, Laurent Voulzy, Daniel Lavoie and Elisabeth Anaïs) were enlisted for this cause and Nolwenn’s debut album, produced by French pop star Pascal Obispo, finally hit stores on 4 March 2003. (This debut album was originally called "Nolwenn", but had to hastily be remarketed as "Nolwenn Leroy" when it was discovered that the stage name Nolwenn was already being used by another Breton singer.) Nolwenn solved the problem by adopting her mother’s maiden name. The first single release from the album, "Cassé", was released on 18 March, just three days before the start of the "Star Ac' 2" tour.

This mega 90-date tour, which lasted through to June, gave Nolwenn the chance to hone her vocal skills live on stage. Meanwhile, sales of her debut album topped the 300,000 mark and a second single, "Une femme cachée", hit the airwaves. Released on 8 July 2003, it made the charts but was less of a hit than the first release. A third single from the album would be released on 12 November 2003: "Suivre une étoile" (Following a Star). The song, which could not have been more aptly named, was composed by Laurent Voulzy and drew inspiration from the Celtic legends Nolwenn adores. A romantic video clip was shot in the forest of Fontainebleau (near Paris), which stood in for the forest of Brocéliande in Brittany.

Nolwenn went on to embark on her first solo tour, kicking things off with a concert at the Salle du Summum, in Grenoble, on 5 December 2003. (This was, in fact, her second show, coming as it did after a private concert for 200 lucky guests organised by the radio station sponsoring the singer’s tour). Nolwenn’s tour included 34 dates and lasted until March 2004, when she performed a grand finale at Le Forrest National in Brussels.

Meanwhile, at the start of 2004, Nolwenn won a coveted NRJ Music Award for "Best Breakthrough Francophone Act of the Year." After this triumph, she went on to release a fourth single, "Inévitablement" (written by Lara Fabian). Meanwhile, sales of her debut album doubled, topping the 600,000 mark. 2004 also marked the year when Nolwenn made an unexpected breakthrough in the U.S. – thanks to science! In fact, in October of that year, the American neurologist Frederick Carrick, carrying out research into music therapy, claimed that Nolwenn’s soothing vocals on the song "14 février" had had a positive effect on the cerebral lesions of his patients.

Nolwenn Leroy was now faced with the challenge of confirming her early talent and making a follow-up album. The release date of her second opus was put back several times, however, as Laurent Voulzy (the music star who wrote most of the material on it) is a renowned perfectionist who likes to take his time. Nolwenn’s second album, "Histoires Naturelles", was finally released on December 2005. The first single, "Nolwenn Ohwo", gave a sign of what was to follow, featuring Nolwenn’s instantly recognisable sound, her signature mystical atmosphere and whimsical lyrics marking her affinity to Anglo stars such as Kate Bush and Tori Amos.

The final mix of “Histoires Naturelles” took place in London, in the legendary Abbey Road studios, home to the Beatles, and Nolwenn paid her own tribute to the Fab Four recording a cover of "London Fantasy". Laurent Voulzy (whose son, Julien, contributed the superb ballad "Endormie") offered Nolwenn a tailor-made album that fitted her vocals like a glove. The title track was chosen as the second single release from the album in March 2006. Meanwhile, Nolwenn continued her humanitarian work, acting as ambassador for Unicef’s Operation Brikkado (a project which finances the vaccination of children in the Third World) for the third year running.

Nolwenn, the Breton with the big heart (now living in Auvergne), has achieved two of her life’s ambitions: launching a successful music career and doing valuable work for a humanitarian cause!

April 2006