Eileen

Born in New York on May 16, 1941, Eileen is the daughter of American publisher Michael Goldsen, founder of Criterion Music. After studying linguistics at the University of Los Angeles, the polyglot young woman, who was fluent in French, settled in Paris in 1964 and was noticed by Lucien Morisse's Disc'AZ label, for whom she recorded adaptations of American songs. Her first EP, Prends Ta Guitare, released in 1964, includes original compositions of her own and an adaptation by Woody Guthrie. In a country-folk style mixed with yé-yé, Eileen wrote "Le Skip" for the Une Grenouille Dans le Vent EP (1965), and enjoyed her greatest success with a French version of the Lee Hazlewood classic "These Boots Are Made for Walking", aimed at Nancy Sinatra, which she adapted herself under the literal title "Ces bottes sont faites pour marcher " (1966), with the participation of guitarist Mickey Baker. Eileen also sang English, German and Italian versions, which were successfully exported. In the same year, she covered "How Does That Grab You Darlin'", again popularized by Nancy Sinatra. Married to producer Jack Robinson, in April 1966 the singer took part in Jean-Marie Périer's famous "photo du siècle" for the magazine Salut les Copains. She went on to perform Mickey & Sylvia's "Love Is Strange" with her creator Mickey Baker, then recorded the EP La Petite Flûte (1967) and other songs such as "Hard Times", for Melvin Van Peebles' film La Permission (1968) and "Tout le monde est fou" (1970). After collaborations with Billy Bridge aka Black Swan, she reappeared in 1982 for the sci-fi title "Galactic Fred". Since then, the singer has turned to music publishing, setting up French Fried Music.