The Singing Nun - Soeur Sourire

Awash in obscurism and post-holiday stupor, I deliver unto you this gift - less for the music than the story.

The Singing Nun, Sister Luc-Gabrielle, (aka Jeanine Deckers) recorded souvenir records to be given away to guests of her convent in Belgium. Somehow she became a sensation in Europe as a result. In December, 1963, her single, Dominique, topped the US pop charts for 4 weeks. In the wake of JFK's assasination radio stations turned to softer and more religious themed music and the Singing Nun fit the bill. The song relegated Louie Louie to the #2 spot.

Shortly after the success she left the convent feeling the church was too conservative. She had never desired the limelight and also left the music business. But in 1966 she recorded a second album pointedly titled I Am Not A Star that failed disastrously, though it did take on several controversial subjects and included the ode to birth control, Glory be to God for the Golden Pill. When the album tanked she founded and ran a school for children with autism.

A sappy biopic about her starring Debbie Reynolds and Ricardo Montalban was released in 1966, though Deckers denounced it as complete fiction.

Throughout the 70's she fought the Belgian government over their demand for payment of back taxes. She claimed the convent and a former manager had taken most of her money. She also came out as a lesbian. In 1982, out of desperation she recorded Dominique again as sort of a new wave disco cover in hopes of raising the funds needed to pay the back taxes. It bombed. Three years later, citing the financial pressures she and her lover of the previous ten years committed suicide. Ironically, the very day of their deaths, and unbeknownst to them, the Belgian equivalent of ASCAP awarded her $300,000 in back royalties owed her - more than enough to have paid off her $65,000 in back taxes.

To this day she remains the only Belgian artist to ever top the US charts.

So settle back and sing along with the sister - just don't make it a habit.

Hear

And here's a vid of the 1982 disco version (very much a camp classic).