Nicole Croisille: French chanson legend is dead

The distinctive “da Ba da ba da” has faded forever. Nicole Croisille (1936-2025), the French singer and dancer, who wrote with this iconic chorus from Claude Lelouch (87) cult film “A man and a woman” music history is dead. She died on June 4, 2025 at the age of 88 in Paris ,.

Croisille danced in the Paris Opera at the age of eight and later studied pantomime under Marcel Marceau. She also accompanied him on tours to the USA, where she discovered her passion for jazz music. At times she was even a member of the ensemble of the French-American artist Josephine Baker.

In 1966 she met Claude Lelouch and Francis Lai, who invited her to interpret the soundtrack to “a man and a woman” as a duet with Pierre Baroh. The film, a classic of French cinema, was awarded two Oscars. The chorus sung by Croisille “Da Ba da Ba da” knows every child in at least in France.

“Her voice was so unique, the breath of my films, the music of my feelings. Together we created moments for eternity,” wrote a man and a woman “director Lelouch on Wednesday. According to him, the deceased had “this rare gift of conveying intimacy, touching the soul”.

Croisille released about 20 albums in the course of her career. She celebrated her greatest successes in the 1970s with titles such as “Parlez-Moi de Lui” and “Téléphone-Moi”. In private, she remained unmarried and childless.