You'd have to search long and hard to find pop music gold record pop performers from the miniscule European municipality of Monaco, but we did just that and we found them - Princess Grace Kelly and her daughter, Princess Stephanie de Monaco.
Most everyone knows that the beautiful, American, Philadelphia- born Grace Kelly, was a legendary Hollywood actress (ranked #13 on the all-time list of actresses by the American Film Institute.)
But she was hardly known for her singing.
When she insisted on singing a duet with her co-star, the great Bing Crosby, in the 1956 film, High Society, the film's music director and conductor, Johnny Green, vehemently opposed it - thinking her voice too thin. He wanted to insert a voice double for the scene.
But the future Princess Grace, who had just taken months of singing lessons, was adamant - and as one of the biggest female movie stars in Hollywood, her political clout with the studio carried the day.
Green later admitted that Grace Kelly made him look like a fool, as the recording of the Cole Porter - composed duet, True Love, went to #1 in the US - stayed there for 22 weeks - and ultimately went gold.
It was Grace Kelly's last big-screen performance before her marriage to Prince Rainier of Monaco.
Monaco is a tiny little city-state between France and Italy - a function of arcane European feudal politics. It is one-third the geographic area of New York City's Central park, and with 38,000 residents, is smaller than most suburbs of Chicago.
The only other chart-topping Monagasquer, that we could find, was Princess Grace's youngest daughter, Stephanie.
A "wild child" who her mother affectionately called, "my enfante terrible," Stephanie was something of a dilettante, who tried her hand at fashion modeling (with considerable success), swimsuit design and eventually pop-music.
In 1986 Princess Stephanie self-produced a French language single, Ouragan, with a corresponding English version, Irresistible. It sailed to #1 in France - becoming one of the biggest selling singles there, of all-time. It did correspondingly well, elsewhere in Europe.
By 1991, her music career had pretty well petered out - perhaps due to her neglect - and she released her final album to minimal acclaim.
Here's the Cole Porter composition, True Love, as performed by Grace Kelly and Bing Crosby in the 1956 film, High Society. It became a gold record, remaining on the US charts for 22 weeks and was nominated for an Academy Award:
Here's Princess Stephanie de Monaco's 1991 release, Winds of Chance, which went to #54 on the German charts (and charted no where else):
And here's Stephanie's 1986 hit, Ouragan/Irresistible which went to #1 in France, #2 in Germany, #5 in Austria and #11 in Switzerland:
Here are Grace Kelly appreciation pages:
https://www.facebook.com/Grace.Kelly.Fanclub.Turkey/
http://gracepage.tripod.com/gallery.html
Here is the Stephanie de Monaco fan site:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Public-Figure/FANS-Stephanie-De-Monaco-39883024140/
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| Philadelphia- born Princess Grace |
Most everyone knows that the beautiful, American, Philadelphia- born Grace Kelly, was a legendary Hollywood actress (ranked #13 on the all-time list of actresses by the American Film Institute.)
But she was hardly known for her singing.
When she insisted on singing a duet with her co-star, the great Bing Crosby, in the 1956 film, High Society, the film's music director and conductor, Johnny Green, vehemently opposed it - thinking her voice too thin. He wanted to insert a voice double for the scene.
But the future Princess Grace, who had just taken months of singing lessons, was adamant - and as one of the biggest female movie stars in Hollywood, her political clout with the studio carried the day.
Green later admitted that Grace Kelly made him look like a fool, as the recording of the Cole Porter - composed duet, True Love, went to #1 in the US - stayed there for 22 weeks - and ultimately went gold.
It was Grace Kelly's last big-screen performance before her marriage to Prince Rainier of Monaco.
Monaco is a tiny little city-state between France and Italy - a function of arcane European feudal politics. It is one-third the geographic area of New York City's Central park, and with 38,000 residents, is smaller than most suburbs of Chicago.
 |
| Princess Stephanie |
The only other chart-topping Monagasquer, that we could find, was Princess Grace's youngest daughter, Stephanie.
A "wild child" who her mother affectionately called, "my enfante terrible," Stephanie was something of a dilettante, who tried her hand at fashion modeling (with considerable success), swimsuit design and eventually pop-music.
In 1986 Princess Stephanie self-produced a French language single, Ouragan, with a corresponding English version, Irresistible. It sailed to #1 in France - becoming one of the biggest selling singles there, of all-time. It did correspondingly well, elsewhere in Europe.
By 1991, her music career had pretty well petered out - perhaps due to her neglect - and she released her final album to minimal acclaim.
Here's the Cole Porter composition, True Love, as performed by Grace Kelly and Bing Crosby in the 1956 film, High Society. It became a gold record, remaining on the US charts for 22 weeks and was nominated for an Academy Award:
Here's Princess Stephanie de Monaco's 1991 release, Winds of Chance, which went to #54 on the German charts (and charted no where else):
And here's Stephanie's 1986 hit, Ouragan/Irresistible which went to #1 in France, #2 in Germany, #5 in Austria and #11 in Switzerland:
Here are Grace Kelly appreciation pages:
https://www.facebook.com/Grace.Kelly.Fanclub.Turkey/
http://gracepage.tripod.com/gallery.html
Here is the Stephanie de Monaco fan site:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Public-Figure/FANS-Stephanie-De-Monaco-39883024140/