Some voices you recognise in a split second. Catherine Ringer’s was one of them. A voice that could laugh, rasp, scream, sing of love, desire or madness. A voice that never wanted to be put in a box.
The announcement of her death has triggered a wave of emotional reactions. Among them, French President Emmanuel Macron, who paid tribute to a personality he called “unclassifiable, irreverent, profoundly French”.
On X, the president accompanied his message with a clip from 2024 in which the artist sang ‘La Marseillaise’ during a ceremony marking the enshrining of the right to abortion in the Constitution.
The Élysée also paid solemn tribute on Wednesday in an official statement. The text traces the journey of this “all-round artist”, born in 1957 in Suresnes and immersed from childhood in an artistic family environment. After her first steps on stage at the Café de la Gare and then at the Palace, as well as “darker, more painful experiences” from which she managed to break free, 1979 marked a major turning point when she met Fred Chichin.
Together, they created Les Rita Mitsouko, a duo with an art “free and impossible to categorise”, which broke through to the general public in 1984 with the resounding success of the song ‘Marcia Baïla’.
Following the death of her partner in 2007, Catherine Ringer carried on her career “with deeply moving dignity”, alternating solo projects with returns to the stage to revive the band’s cult tracks. Described variously as “a diva, a popular singer and an avant-gardist”, she leaves, according to the presidency, “a singular, flamboyant artistic legacy” that has left a lasting mark on musical life in France.
Across the political spectrum, voices have spoken up to stress that she was also a tireless activist, but without a party label – feminist through her actions long before the word became a slogan – standing up to sexists on TV shows as much as to right-thinking orthodoxies. Among them, Dominique de Villepin on X (source in French) and France Insoumise MEP Manon Aubry (source in French).
Her peers pay tribute and thank her
Rock musicians, pop artists, rappers or icons of French chanson: all are mourning the loss of a “big sister” of the stage.
On social media, the music world seemed to freeze in order to salute the woman who injected a punk streak of madness into mainstream French pop.
Singer-songwriter Benjamin Biolay posted a powerful tribute on Instagram (source in French), recalling the formative shock of the album ‘The No Comprendo’, and honouring the memory of an extraordinary voice and the poetry of the mythical duo she formed with Fred Chichin.
Singer Étienne Daho (source in French), meanwhile, posted a photo with Catherine Ringer and simply her first name.
And then there are the words from legendary band Sparks, with whom Les Rita Mitsouko worked. The American band spoke of an artist that was “one of a kind”, a “true force of nature”, and a friend whose path they know they were lucky to cross.
Tributes are also coming from far beyond the world of music. Actors and performers like Josiane Balasko, Nikos Aliagas, Michèle Laroque, Julie Gayet, Flavie Flament and Alain Chabat, among others, have shared their memories and their emotions on social media.
One particularly beautiful tribute from a user spotted on X shows that the artist touched many generations, including the youngest, and will continue to do so.
Finally, there is no better way to end this article than with music. The music of Catherine and Fred, the soundtrack that accompanied and lulled a large part of this writer’s life. This song in particular is forever tied to a vivid memory: a concert in October 2000, in a venue in Lyon. Seeing them play that night and hearing this track live is etched forever.
‘C’est comme ça’ – Les Rita Mitsouko – album ‘The No Comprendo’ – video directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino in 1986.