Barbara

Monique Andrée Serf (9 June 1930 – 24 November 1997), known as Barbara, was a French singer. She took her stage name from her grandmother, Varvara Brodsky, a native of Odesa, Ukraine. Barbara became a famous cabaretière in the late 1950s in Paris, known as La Chanteuse de minuit ('the midnight singer'), before she started composing her own tracks, which brought her to fame. Her most famous songs include "Dis, quand reviendras-tu ?" (1962), "Ma plus belle histoire d'amour" (1966) and "L'Aigle noir" (1970), the latter of which is said to have sold over 1 million copies in just twelve hours.

Born on Rue Brochant in Paris to a Jewish family. Her father, Jacques Serf (1904-1959), was a leather salesmen of Alsatian origin and her mother, Ester Brodsky (1905-1967), was a civil servant from Tiraspol. She was the second of four children: Jean (born 1928), Régine (born 1938), and Claude (born 1943). Barbara lived in northwestern Paris as a child. She then lived in Roanne starting in 1938, and in Tarbes starting in 1941.

Barbara was 13 years old when she went into hiding during the German occupation of France during World War II. Her family was hidden by the family of conductor Jean-Paul Penin from 1943 to 1945, first in Préaux and then in Saint-Marcellin. After the war ended, Barbara's family came back to Paris in 1946, and settled on Rue Vitruve in the 20th arrondissement.