Nicoletta's famous song, "Il est mort le soleil", was performed by Ray Charles in 1968. At the time of its release, it seemed impossible for the singer.
And yet, in 1967, in Montreal, Nicoletta met the American legend.
This moment, she recounts it, even today, as a turning point in her career.
Fifty years.
That's the number of years Nicoletta has spent on stage.
The jazz singer, with blues and gospel influences, has become over time a monument of French music.
During her career, she crossed many paths with other artists.
She notably met Ray Charles and recounts this turning point in her career to Philippe Vandel, in
Culture Médias,
on Europe 1.
"I cried the whole concert"
In 1967, in Montreal, Nicoletta met Ray Charles.
A meeting which will greatly upset her musical career and which, at the beginning, intimidated her a lot.
Nicoletta says that she and Ray Charles had the same artistic agents in Canada.
One day, she asks these agents if she can go to one of her concerts.
"So I find myself in the room listening to Ray Charles", she remembers, "I cried throughout the concert, it was so beautiful".
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At the end, the French singer meets Ray Charles in his dressing room.
"He was great fun, he was laughing out loud, he was full of life ... I was fascinated, I was shaking, I was 22! He took us to eat in Chinatown in Montreal, I was sitting next to it of him. And at the end of the meal, he asked me for my album, I gave it to him. He wrote on his braille notebook, it's a beautiful memory, I was moved, with his little stylus, he wrote my name, my address in Paris and my phone. Everyone came home and goodbye! ".
"It's the French blues your song"
The singer then thought that this magical meeting would stop in this restaurant across the Atlantic.
But three weeks later, in Paris, Nicoletta receives a call.
The person doing the middleman in the handset says someone wants to talk to her, to which she would have replied: "It's okay fans go to bed!"
At the other end of the line, Ray Charles bursts out laughing and says: "The Frenchwoman, you have such a powerful voice and your song is French blues"!
By setting in the background the famous tube "he died the sun", by Nicoletta.
He asks the singer to explain the lyrics to him and adds: "I love the song, I will translate it into English".
"And he did it!", Concludes the singer, proudly.
In 1968, singer Ray Charles even came to perform this song at the Salle Pleyel in Paris.