Angèle Durand born 23 October 1925

Angèle Durand (23 October 1925 - 22 December 2001) was a Belgian singer and actress. Durand was a popular singer in Germany during the early 1950s. 

Angèle Durand was born as Angèle Caroline Liliane Josette Marie-José De Geest in Antwerp, Belgium. She was the daughter of a diamond merchant and a ballet dancer. Her grandmother was a well known Wagner interpreter. At 15, Angèle made her stage debut as a singer. In a dress borrowed from her aunt she won the second place in a talent competition in the Rubens Paleis (Rubens Palace Theater) in Antwerp. Her voice was dark and typical. 

She got engagements for the radio, first in Brussels, later for the American station AFN in Stuttgart, Germany. In 1950 she replaced a singer of the legendary Duke Ellington Band during a concert in Brussels. Soon after this successful performance, she made an extended European tour with Ellington. She got more engagements for variety and radio shows in Germany, and in 1950she had her first hit in both Belgium and Germany with C'est si bon. 

The following year she also made her first film appearance in the film Die Mitternachtsvenus/Midnight Venus (1951, Ferdinand Dörfler) starring Theo Lingen. In 1951 she met her later husband Nils Nobach, who would become her producer. She appeared in the German success comedy Käpt'n Bay-Bay (1953, Helmut Käutner) as the partner of Hans Albers. Her song So ist Paris (1956) became another international hit. In 1957 she was together with Maurice Chevalier one of the stars of Tivoli in Copenhagen. She also performed in variety shows with stars like Zarah Leander, Edith Piaf and Josephine Baker. 

                               

In both 1956 and 1960 she was a contestant of the German pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest. In 1960, together with Rex Gildo, she sang the duet Abitur der Liebe. From 1958 till 1961 she was married with producer Nils Nobach. After their divorce she had a new big hit with Ja ich bin die tolle Frau. 

During a tour she met the Dutch entertainer Lou van Burg, who became her lifepartner, but when she also became his manager her first career as a pop singer ended. In the 1970’s after their separation and an interlude as a restaurant operator, she returned to the stage as an actress and musical star in the 1970s. 

She appeared in Germany and France in musicals as Anatevka, Dreigroschenoper (Three Penny Opera) and Hello Dolly, and also made a solo program, Das Theater und ich (The theater and me). In 1976 she appeared in the documentary Ich bin ein Antistar - Das skandalöse Leben der Evelyn Künneke/I'm an Antistar (1976, Rosa von Praunheim), about the life and career of the German singer Evelyn Künneke. 

In 1977 Durand’s song Chanson d'amour (1958) would become a huge hit in a new version of the group Manhattan Transfer. She often was seen on radio and TV, like in an episode of the popular Krimi series Tatort (1982). Until the end of the 90s she was a welcome guest at gala events and toured across Germany with her solo theater program. On December 22, 2001 she died as a result of a serious illness in Augsburg, Germany. She was 76. 

(Edited from Film Steffi-Line.de & Wikipedia)