Vanessa Paradis is a French singer, actress, and model with a net worth of $100 million. She became a child star at 14 with the global success of her single “Joe le taxi”. Since then, she has got many awards and accolades that honor her acting and singing performances.
She recorded her first single “La Magie des surprises-parties”, in 1983 and then performed it at an Italian festival in 1985. Though “La Magie des surprises-parties” was not a hit, it gave way to the song with which she became internationally famous, “Joe le taxi”, in 1987. At the time she was only 14 years old.
The song ranked number 1 in France for 11 weeks and was released in the UK, which is unusual for a song sung in French, and it reached number 3 on the charts. In 1992, she relocated to the US to work with Lenny Kravitz, whom she also dated then.
Paradis started working on a new album in English, which is a language in which she was now fluent. Entirely written and produced by Kravitz, this album, titled Vanessa Paradis, topped the French chart and shortly made the UK listings at position 45.
Between 1998 and 2012, Vanessa Paradis was in a relationship with American actor Johnny Depp. Together, they have a son, John Christopher “Jack” Depp III (born in 2002), and a daughter, Lily-Rose Melody Depp (born in 1999). Rumors of separation started coming up as early as January 2012.
Depp’s representative officially confirmed their breakup in June 2012. Despite never being officially married, Johnny Depp said that he planned to give 50% of his fortune to Vanessa Paradis as a settlement anyways.
Vanessa Paradis was born on December 22, 1972, in Paris, France. Her parents were André and Corrinne and they both worked as interior designers. She started singing at a tender age partly because her uncle was record producer, Didier Pain. He supported her and enabled her to appear on the local television program, “L’École des fans,” which was entirely about a talent show for child singers.
Vanessa Paradis Career
After an early start to her career, Vanessa Paradis recorded her first single, “La Magie des surprises-parties,” in 1983. Though “La Magie des surprises-parties” was not a hit, it gave way to the song with which she became internationally famous, “Joe le taxi”, in 1987. It maintained the number one position for 11 weeks and also reached the third spot on the charts in the United Kingdom.
She left high school at the age of 16 to pursue her singing career. In 1990, she released an album written by French composer, Serge Gainsbourg. Furthermore, she starred in the film “Noce Blanche” the same year and got the Cesar Award for Most Promising Actress. In 1991, she featured in an advertisement for Chanel to promote their fragrance, Coco.
A year later, Vanessa Paradis decided to move to the US since she had begun dating musician Lenny Kravitz. Kravitz was majorly involved in the production of Paradis’s self-titled album, which was her first album all in English. That album, “Vanessa Paradis,” topped the charts in France.
She announced an international tour in March 1993 during which she performed in England, France, and Canada. While on tour, she recorded another album of her live performances known as “Live” which she released in February 1994. Furthermore, she continued working in film and made the movie ‘Elisa’ under the direction of Jean Becker. The film was a major success in France.
Paradis starred in “Un amour de sorciere” in 1997 together with Jean Reno and Jeanne Moreau. She later filmed “Une chance sur Deux” with Jean-Paul Belmondo and Alain Delon. In March 1999, she featured in the black and white film, “La fille sur le Pont.” The following year, she released her fourth studio album, “Bliss.” She also featured herself in the documentary film, “Lost in La Mancha” in 2002.
Vanessa Paradis appeared in a campaign for Chanel in 2004 where she was promoting handbags and did it again in 2005. She also started working on a new album at the time. “Divinidylle” was released in 2007 and Paradis went on a tour to promote the album several months later.
This album was received well and she won two Les Victoires de la Musique awards for it in February 2008. In the same year, she modeled for Miu Miu and then began working on an acoustic album. She released “Une Nuit à Versailles” in November 2010, and a set of DVDs known as “Anthologie” that featured recordings of rare live performances by Vanessa Paradis from 1987 to 2007.
Furthermore, she was named the face of Chanel’s new lipstick, Rouge Coco, sometime in 2010 and the face of their new handbag, Ranger. At that time, she embarked on another international tour that featured stops in Turkey, the US, and other parts of Europe.
Paradis go a starring role in the film “Café de Flore” in 2011by Canadian film director Jean-Marc Vallee. She acts as a single mother of a child with Down’s syndrome. For her performance, she won a Genie Award for Best Actress in her leading Role at the 2012 Genie Awards.
In May 2013, Vanessa Paradis released a new album known as “Love Songs,” produced by French producer and singer Benjamin Biolay. Several artists contributed to the songwriting of the album including Mickael Furnon, Johnny Depp, Adrien Gallo, and Lily-Rose Depp.
One of the songs from the album, ‘Mi Amor,’ was selected for the television advertising campaign for the famous Chloe perfume, “Love Story.” She appeared in “Sous les jupes des filles” in 2014 and then in “Yoga Hosers” in 2016 together with her daughter, Lily-Rose. She was later named a member of the main competition jury of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.
In 2018, she released her seventh studio album titled ‘Les Sources.’