Christine and the Queens

Christine and the Queens
Background information
Birth name	Héloïse Letissier
Born	1 June 1988 Nantes, France[1]
Genres	Pop synthpop art pop[2]
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals Piano
Years active	2008–present
Labels	Because Music (France), Neon Gold (U.S.)
Associated acts	Perfume Genius Booba
Website	www.christineandthequeens.com

Héloïse Letissier (born 1 June 1988), known by her stage name Christine and the Queens, is a French singer and songwriter. She was born in Nantes and has been signed to the independent record label Because Music since 2012. Her work combines music, performance, art videos, drawings and photography.^[3]

Career

Letissier studied theatre at École normale supérieure de Lyon (ENS Lyon), moving to Paris in 2010, where she concluded her studies. When she visited London in 2010, she was inspired by the work of local drag queen musicians, including Russella,^[4] who accompanied her in one of her early concerts. They then became her "Queens" as a backing band. She dedicated many of her creations to them and to all transgender individuals, describing her genre as "freakpop".^[5] She adopted the name Christine and the Queens releasing her debut EP Miséricorde independently followed by another EP in 2012 called Mac Abbey with the minor hits "Narcissus is Back" and "Cripple". In 2012, she was the opening act for Lykke Li, The Dø and Woodkid as well as for Lilly Wood and the Prick in 2013. Her third release was an EP titled Nuit 17 à 52 which garnered her first charting on the official French Albums Chart SNEP with the help of its title track.

In 2012, Christine and the Queens won the Best Discovered Act known as Découverte du Printemps de Bourges and also the Adami Premières Francos 2012 award.

In 2014, Letissier identified herself as pansexual.^[6]

In the acknowledgements for the album Chaleur humaine, Letissier wrote "Oceane, my beautiful wife. The flowers are for you" (in reference to the album art).

On 13 February 2015, she was awarded Best Female Artist and Best Video Clip of 2014 at the Victoires de la musique. Her album Chaleur humaine was also one of 19 records nominated for the IMPALA Album of the Year Award.^[7]

The single "Tilted", translated from "Christine", was released in February 2015 in the United States as an introduction to her first English EP Saint Claude. Edited by Neon Gold Records, the band toured North America with Marina and the Diamonds as promotion for the release. The song was released in the UK in 2016 and charted on the UK Singles Chart. In 2016, Christine and the Queens put together a cover of Beyoncé's "Sorry" in the BBC Live Lounge, the cover was named as one of the "6 Best New Songs of the Week."^[8]

In 2016 she was chosen as one of BBC's 100 Women^[9]

Discography

Studio albums

Title	Details	Peak chart positions							Certifications
		FRA [10]	AUS [11]	BEL [12]	NL [13]	NZ [14]	SWI [15]	UK [16]
Chaleur Humaine (US title: Christine and the Queens)	Release date: 2 June 2014 (FRA) 26 February 2016 (UK) Label: Because Music Formats: Digital download, CD	2	8	1	25	8	7	2	SNEP: Diamond[17] BEA: Platinum[18] BPI: Gold[19]

Extended plays

Title	Details	Peak chart positions
		FRA [10]
Miséricorde[20]	Release date: 2011 Label: Self-released Formats: CD	—
Mac Abbey[21]	Release date: 2012 Label: Remark Music Formats: CD	—
Nuit 17 à 52[22]	Release date: 30 May 2013 Label: Because Music Formats: Digital download, CD	130
iTunes Session (limited edition)[23]	Release date: 9 February 2015 Label: Because Music Formats: Digital download	39
Saint Claude[24]	Release date: 14 April 2015 Label: Because Music Formats: Digital download, CD	—
Intranquillité[25]	Release date: 2015 Label: Because Music Formats: Digital download, CD	—
Christine and the Queens (UK only/promotional)	Release date: 2015 Label: Because Music Formats: Digital download, CD	—
"—" denotes an album that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Singles

Year	Title	Peak chart positions					Certifications	Album
		FRA [10]	AUS [11]	BEL [12]	NLD [13]	UK [16]
2013	"Nuit 17 à 52"	75	—	61	—	—		Chaleur humaine
2014	"Saint Claude"	4	—	8	—	—
	"Christine"	3	—	1	41	—	BEA: 2× Platinum[26]
2015	"Paradis perdus"	19	—	39	—	—
	"No Harm Is Done" (featuring Tunji Ige)	118	—	—	—	—		Christine and the Queens
	"Jonathan" (featuring Perfume Genius)	120	—	76	—	—
2016	"Tilted"	—	54	—	—	20	BPI: Silver[19]
"—" denotes a single that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Other charted songs

Year	Title	Peak chart positions	Album
		FRA [10]
2015	"Chaleur humaine"	186	Chaleur humaine
	"Intranquillité"	54	Intranquillité
	"Amazoniaque"	178
	"Safe and Holy"	188
2016	"Here" (featuring Booba)	52	Non-album single
"—" denotes a song that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

See also

• List of French singers
• List of French singer-songwriters
• List of pansexual people

References

1. Kourles, Gia Christine, a Pop Star Who Sings With Her Muscles New York Times. October 7, 2016
2. Snapes, Laura. "Christine and the Queens Can't Stop Googling Weird Diseases". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
3. François Alvarez. "Christine and the Queens biographie" (in French). music story.
4. Medioni, Par Gilles (13 Feb 2015). "VIDEOS. La voix royale de Christine and the Queens". L'Express.
5. Le Monde: Christine & the Queens: "amener un peu de fantaisie ou de bizarre" dans le genre populaire (French)
6. Laurent Ruquier with Natacha Polony & Aymeric Caron (14 June 2014). Christine and the Queens est pansexuelle – On n'est pas couché (in French). fr:Studio Gabriel, Paris: ONPC, France Télévisions. Christine and the Queens is pansexual
7. "Young labels featured in shortlist for IMPALA Album of the Year Award". sur impalamusic.org.
8. "6 Best New Songs of the Week". Vulture.com. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
9. 2016, BBC, Retrieved 24 November 2016
10. "Discographie Christine and the Queens". French Charts Portal. Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
11. Peak positions in Australia:
    • For all except noted: "Discography Christine and the Queens". Australian Charts Portal. Hung Medien. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
    • For "Tilted": "CHART WATCH #377". auspOp. 16 July 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
12. "Discografie Christine and the Queens". Belgium (Flanders) Charts Portal. Hung Medien. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
13. "Discografie Christine and the Queens". Dutch Charts Portal. Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
14. "Discography Christine and the Queens". New Zealand Charts Portal. Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
15. "Discographie Christine and the Queens". Swiss Charts Portal. Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
16. "Christine and the Queens". Officialcharts.com/. Official Charts Company. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
17. "Bilan 2015 Du Marché de la Musiqye Enregistrée" (PDF). SNEP. Retrieved 21 August 2016.
18. "Ultratop − Goud en Platina – 2015". Ultratop & Hung Medien / hitparade.ch. Retrieved August 21, 2016.
19. "British certifications – Christine and the Queens – Chaleur Humaine". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 26 August 2016. Enter Chaleur Humaine in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Click Search
20. https://www.discogs.com/Christine-And-The-Queens-Mis%C3%A9ricorde/release/5985784
21. https://www.discogs.com/Christine-And-The-Queens-Mac-Abbey/release/5487573
22. https://www.discogs.com/Christine-And-The-Queens-Nuit-17-52/master/572804
23. https://www.discogs.com/Christine-And-The-Queens-iTunes-Session/master/962636
24. https://www.discogs.com/Christine-And-The-Queens-Saint-Claude/master/909419
25. https://www.discogs.com/Christine-And-The-Queens-Intranquillit%C3%A9/master/847691
26. "Ultratop − Goud en Platina – 2016". Ultratop & Hung Medien / hitparade.ch. Retrieved August 21, 2016.

External links

• Official website
• Christine and the Queens - Because Music
• Christine and the Queens - discogs