La Grande Sophie

Sophie Huriaux (born July 18, 1969 in Thionville), better known by her stage name La Grande Sophie, is a French singer-songwriter who got her start in the mid-1990s in the Paris alternative scene. Sophie lived the whole of her youth in Port-de-Bouc near Marseilles, where her parents moved to when she was quite young. She had her first musical idea while watching Jacques Demy's film Peau d'Ane on television. She began playing guitar at age nine, then at 13 she started a band called "Entrée interdite" with her brother and her neighbor. As well as performing covers of hits, she wrote and composed for this group, where she was the leading vocalist and musician. In June 1983 the first Fête de la Musique took place in France. Almost 14 years old, Sophie managed to convince the management of the school to let her group perform.