The French singer and songwriter known simply as Barbara, earned a huge following in the French-speaking world for her melancholic lyrics and melodies. She belonged to the tradition of French-language singers like Jacques Brel, Georges Brassens and Leo Ferre for whom music was to a large measure a vehicle for poetry, sometimes humorous, more often nostalgic or even tragic.
Barbara, whose real name was Monique Serf, began her career in the 1950's performing songs by Brel and Brassens, but she made her name in the 1960's with her own songs that she joined Edith Piaf and Juliette Greco as a Left Bank Her career peaked in the late 1960's and 70's, but she continued to draw large crowds to her concert series. She remained a pivotal french artist with her purity of voice with its dark passion.