# Camille (French singer)

Camille Dalmais (born 10 March 1978), better known by her mononym Camille, is a French singer-songwriter.

## Early life and education

Camille was born and raised in Paris. Her mother was a teacher of English and her father, Hervé Dalmais, was a musician. As a teenager, she studied ballet and developed an interest in bossa nova music and American stage musicals. She attended the prestigious Lycée International de Saint Germain-en-Laye, where she obtained her baccalaureate in literature. Thanks to her mother, Camille speaks English fluently as well as her native French. She performed her first original song "Un Homme Déserté" at the age of sixteen while attending a wedding. In the early 2000s, while performing at jazz clubs in Paris, Camille made her acting debut in the film Les Morsures de l'aube [fr] (by Antoine de Caunes; with Asia Argento and Guillaume Canet). She also contributed to the song "La Vie la Nuit" in its soundtrack.
She attended Sciences Po Paris just before beginning her music career.

## Career

In early 2002, Camille signed a recording contract with Virgin Records. She released her first studio album Le Sac des Filles. In 2004, she began working with Marc Collin and his band Nouvelle Vague, which incorporates new wave and bossa nova music. She contributed vocals to the songs "Too Drunk to Fuck", "In a Manner of Speaking", "The Guns of Brixton", and "Making Plans for Nigel" on their first album.
In 2005, she released the album Le Fil, which was produced in collaboration with English producer MaJiKer. This album incorporated an avant-garde concept – a string, or thread ("le fil"), which was a drone that persisted throughout the entire course of the album. All of the songs on this album are based on the exploration of the voice, with only a double bass, bass guitar, guitar, trombone, percussion, or keyboard as accompanying instruments. Le Fil quickly became certified gold. The song "Ta Douleur" was voted 26th in Australia's Triple J Hottest 100, 2006.
In June 2007, Camille performed Benjamin Britten's A Ceremony of Carols and a new a cappella work God is sound (The 12 World Prayers) at L'église Saint-Eustache, Paris.
Camille's song "1, 2, 3" from Le Sac des Filles was used in the television ad for Cacharel's Promesse perfume starring Laetitia Casta and Matthew Avedon. Her song "Waves" was used in Perrier's "Melting" television ad.
Also in 2007, she contributed to the soundtrack of Pixar's Ratatouille, with the song entitled "Le Festin". Additionally, she provides the European French dub voice of Colette in Ratatouille.
Camille's album Music Hole was released on 7 April 2008, again produced in collaboration with MaJiKer. Music Hole was recorded and mixed by Valgeir Sigurðsson. The first single from the album, "Gospel with No Lord", was released for online download on 11 February 2008, along with another new song from the album entitled "Money Note".
Her song, "Ta douleur" was featured on the American television program Saturday Night Live. The original sketch aired in October 2010 titled "Les jeunes de Paris" hosted by actress Emma Stone.
She contributed to the track "Putain putain" on Nouvelle Vague's 2010 album Couleurs sur Paris for whom she had previously done work for on their first album. She later appeared on Jérôme Van Den Hole's self-titled album on the track, "Debout".
Her song "Pour que l'amour me quitte", from her 2005 album Le Fil, was covered in Italian superstar Elisa's 2010 acoustic album Ivy in collaboration with her colleague Giorgia.
She is featured in the soundtrack with Hans Zimmer and Richard Harvey to the 2015 French animated film The Little Prince.
Her song "She was" was a theme in the 2022 movie Corsage about the Empress Elisabeth of Austria.
Camille wrote all of the original songs for Jacques Audiard's Spanish-language musical crime film Emilia Pérez (2024), which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. She had the assistance of a Mexican translator, and performed the songs for the demo. Her partner and longtime musical collaborator Clément Ducol composed the original score for the film. Camille and Ducol went on to win the Cannes Soundtrack Award. The song "El Mal" granted her, Ducol and co-writer Jacques Audiard the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, and also won the Oscar.

## Personal life

She has two children with musician and percussionist Clément Ducol; Marius, born 18 November 2010, and Lila, born in August 2013.

## Discography
### Studio albums

| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Certification |
| Title | Album details | FRA | AUS | BEL (Fl) | BEL (Wa) | SWI | Certification |
| Le Sac des Filles | Released: 23 September 2002 Label: Virgin/EMI | 90 | — | — | — | — | |
| Le Fil | Released: 14 February 2005 Label: Virgin | 4 | 27 | — | 22 | 48 | FRA: 2× Platinum |
| Music Hole | Released: 7 April 2008 Label: Virgin | 5 | — | — | 7 | 25 | FRA: Platinum |
| Ilo Veyou | Released: 3 October 2011 Label: Virgin/EMI | 3 | — | 66 | 9 | 24 | |
| Ouï | Released: June 2017 Label: Because Music | 1 | — | 186 | 3 | 20 | |

### Guest appearances

| Year | Song | Featuring | Album |
| 2004 | "In a Manner of Speaking" "Guns of Brixton" "Too Drunk to Fuck" "Making Plans for Nigel" | - | Nouvelle Vague |
| 2005 | "Dumb VF" | - | Le Pop En Duo |
| 2005 | "Someone Like You" | - | Fast Track (Vocal Mix) |
| 2005 | "Si j'avais su" | - | Hold-up |
| 2007 | "Le Festin" | - | Ratatouille (soundtrack) |
| 2009 | "Alliance" | - | Around Robert Wyatt |
| 2009 | "The Pink Piano" | - | Body-Piano-Machine |
| 2009 | "Metropolitain" | - | Metropolitain |
| 2010 | "Pretty Face" | - | Here Lies Love |
| 2010 | "Putain, Putain" | - | Couleurs sur Paris |
| 2011 | "Nicole" | Les Petroleuses | The Singers |
| 2011 | "Debout" | - | Jérôme Van Den Hole |
| 2013 | "L'amie d'un italien (Rainbows)" | Raphael Gualazzi | Happy Mistake |
| 2015 | "Suis moi" | Hans Zimmer | Le Petit Prince (soundtrack) |
| 2015 | "Equation" | Hans Zimmer | Le Petit Prince (soundtrack) |

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2001 | Love Bites | | Singer |
| 2007 | Ratatouille | | Singer |
| 2013 | On My Way | Muriel | |
| 2014 | Fever | Alice Snow | |
| 2015 | The Little Prince | | Singer |
| 2019 | Heartbeast | Audrey | |
| 2022 | Corsage | | Composer |
| 2024 | Emilia Pérez | | Composer |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2009 | Bulles de Vian | | TV movie |
| 2014 | Capitaine Marleau | Caroline Celac | Episode: "Une voix dans la nuit" |

## Awards

| Award | Year | Nominee(s) | Category | Result |
| BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music | 2007 | Herself | Europe Artist of the Year | Won |
| Globe de Cristal Awards | 2006 | Herself | Best Female Singer | Won |
| Prix Constantin | 2005 | Le Fil | Album of the Year | Won |
| Victoires de la musique | 2006 | Herself | Group or Artist Popular Révélation of the Year | Nominated |
| Victoires de la musique | 2006 | Herself | Group or Artist Stage Révélation of the Year | Won |
| Victoires de la musique | 2006 | Le Fil | Album Révélation of the Year | Won |
| Victoires de la musique | 2006 | "Ta douleur" | Original Song of the Year | Nominated |
| Victoires de la musique | 2009 | Herself | Female Group or Artist of the Year | Won |
| Victoires de la musique | 2009 | Music Hole | Song/Variety Album of the Year | Nominated |
| Victoires de la musique | 2009 | Music Hole Tour | Musical Show, Tour or Concert of the Year | Nominated |
| Victoires de la musique | 2012 | Herself | Female Artist of the Year | Nominated |
| Victoires de la musique | 2012 | Ilo Veyou | Song/Variety Album of the Year | Nominated |
| Victoires de la musique | 2012 | "L'Étourderie" | Original Song of the Year | Nominated |
| Victoires de la musique | 2013 | "Allez allez allez" | Original Song of the Year | Won |
| Victoires de la musique | 2013 | Ilo Veyou à l'Olympia | Musical Show, Tour or Concert of the Year | Nominated |
| Victoires de la musique | 2018 | Tournée | Musical Show, Tour or Concert of the Year | Won |
| Cannes Film Festival | 2024 | Emilia Pérez | Soundtrack Award | Won |
| Academy Awards | 2025 | Emilia Pérez | Best Original Score | Nominated |
| Academy Awards | 2025 | "El Mal" | Best Original Song | Won |
| Academy Awards | 2025 | "Mi camino" | Best Original Song | Nominated |
| Golden Globe Awards | 2025 | Emilia Pérez | Best Original Score | Nominated |
| Golden Globe Awards | 2025 | "El Mal" | Best Original Song | Won |
| Golden Globe Awards | 2025 | "Mi camino" | Best Original Song | Nominated |
| Critics' Choice Movie Awards | 2025 | Emilia Pérez | Best Score | Nominated |
| Critics' Choice Movie Awards | 2025 | "El Mal" | Best Song | Won |
| Critics' Choice Movie Awards | 2025 | "Mi camino" | Best Song | Nominated |
| British Academy Film Awards | 2025 | Emilia Pérez | Best Original Music | Nominated |
| César Awards | 2025 | Emilia Pérez | Best Original Music | Won |
| Lumière Awards | 2025 | Emilia Pérez | Best Music | Won |