Queer Places:
11B Rue d'Orchampt, 75018 Paris
Montmartre Cemetery
Paris, City of Paris, Île-de-France, France
Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti (Italian: [joˈlanda kriˈstiːna dʒiʎˈʎɔtti]; 17 January 1933 – 3 May 1987), professionally known as Dalida, was an Italian-French singer and actress, born in Egypt.[1][2] With around 140 million records sold worldwide, she is one of the best-selling music artists to have come from Italy.[3] Her best known songs are "Bambino", "Gondolier", "Les enfants du Pirée", "Le temps des fleurs", "Darla dirladada", "J'attendrai", "Le jour où la pluie viendra", "Gigi l'amoroso", "Salama ya salama", and "Paroles, paroles" featuring spoken word by Alain Delon.
First an actress, she made her debut in the film A Glass and a Cigarette by Niazi Mustapha in 1955. One year later, having signed with the Barclay record company, Dalida achieved her first success as a singer with "Bambino". Following this, she became the most important seller of records in France between 1957 and 1961. Her music charted in many countries in Europe, Latin America, North America, and Asia. She collaborated with singers such as Julio Iglesias, Charles Aznavour, Johnny Mathis and Petula Clark.
Dalida became a gay icon in France with the groundbreaking 1973 song "Il Venait D'Avoir 19 Ans" ('He Had Just Turned 19'). This is the first song gays in Europe connected with, spurring something of a movement. The song resulted from a real love affair she had in December 1967 with a 22-year-old Italian student whose baby she decided to abort, leaving her infertile. He seems to have been her most compatible partner, but she would not consider staying with him for fear of what her mother would say.
In the 1980s, Dalida candidly talked about her life, her spirituality, and that homosexuality is accepted in Egypt and should be accepted everywhere; audiences would go wild with applause.
Although she shot a few films alongside her career as a singer, she effectively reconnected with cinema with The Sixth Day, a film by Youssef Chahine released in 1986. The film was successful in Egypt where three million people gathered in Shubra to see Dalida at the preview. In France, although the film was hailed by critics, it became a commercial failure.
In 1983, at age 50 Dalida performed the bossa nova "Paroles, Paroles" ("Words, Words") with several people including on French TV with 18-year-old singer Ginni Gallan, clad in tuxedos, putting a new twist on the popular song that could be considered the first-ever lesbian love song.
But it seems to have had negative personal consequences for both of them, who apparently never met again despite having much in common, as if determined to show it was only fiction. Dalida developed serious eye problems and needed the same surgeries she had had as an infant. And Ginni Gallan, too young to have been thrust into that uproar, within months quit singing altogether.
Dalida was deeply disturbed by the suicide of her partner Luigi Tenco in 1967. Despite this, she moved ahead with her career, forming the record label International Show with her brother Orlando, recording more music and performing at concerts and music competitions, but continued to suffer bouts of depression. Dalida committed suicide on 3 May 1987.[4]
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