LILIANE SAINT-PIERRE

One of the longest surviving female singers in the Flemish (and French) showbusiness. She disposes of a good soulful voice that "if there were to be a combination of good taste and justice, would have driven her into the repertoire of the black labels Stax and Volt", as Humo deplored in 1997.

Born in 1948 under the name Liliane Keuninckx in Diest, she started her music career in the circuit of "crochets" (mini song-contests). In 1964 she was discovered by Milo De Coster, one of the colourful figures of the Flemish showbizz of those days. He launched the singer "Liliane" with the hit "We gotta stop".

Liliane & Jimi

"Those crochets, that was just a very nice hobby for the weekend. The fact of getting the first prize regularly just made the fun double, but never was I thinking about making a living with singing. Until I was discovered by Milo and was a professional singer in no time".

An appearance at the Knokke Cup also launched her internationally and brought her in the company of big guns like Roy Orbison, The Bee Gees, Jimmy Hendrickx, Gigliola Cinquetti and many others.

In 1968 she won the song contest "Canzonissima" and was adopted by the French star Claude François, who was looking for artists to start his label "Flèche". He rebaptised her to "Liliane Saint-Pierre" and launched her career in France with considerable success. She even made it to the Parisian Olympia as an opener for Antoine.
"The influence of Claude François was very big : he immediately came up with a new look. I had long hair, but for the first photo-session I already had to have short cut. We later had to redo the photo-session, because he felt my Twiggy-suit was too boy-like. He also wanted me to wear a wig. Sometimes I wondered "does all of this hàve to be this way ?", but still I think I was enormously lucky to be able to work with him for two years. In any case I've never been ashamed for the French songs that I've recorded in those days, while I cannot say that for all the Flemish (vb. "Eenzame boy") and German (vb. "Leider leider leider") material."

A quarrel between Milo De Coster (whose son she had married) and Claude François did mean the end of her international career. Her manager tried to steer her career in a new direction in 1970 with the project "Glory Halleluja 2000", a big religious show that was performed in churches. "That was a big jump, but Milo had discovered another hole in the market. The churches filled for the show : it was a huge success. That kind of show wouldn't probably stand a chance nowadays, but back then the times were ready for it".
In 1974 she also made a comeback in the pop-world with "Als je gaat" (If you go). Not long after, she broke up with Milo De Coster.

After this, a quiet period followed. Her marriage broke down, after which she went living together with Marc Hoyois, the husband of the late Ann Christy.

In 1980, she tried her luck for the first time in the Eurovision Song Contest preselections with the song "Brussel". This failed, but 7 years later she represented Belgium with the song "Soldiers of Love". She didn't have to travel far for this, 'cause the festival was held in Brussels that year since Sandra Kim had won the year before. She ended up in 11th place.

In 1994 she was celebrated extensively for her 30 years in showbizz. In 1997 she had a hit record with "Geef me tijd", a cooperation with the boys of Get Ready. Liliane St-Pierre still regularly figures, as the only one of her generation of Flemish singers (Anneke Soetaert, Marva, Tonia), in the Flemish top 10.

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Albums :
- Mijn grootste successen (1968)
- Hier is .. Liliane St.Pierre (1969)
- Glory Hallelujah (1970 - uitgebracht in Nederlandse, Franse en Duitse versie)
- De duizend talen van het hart / Les milles langues de l'amour (1971)
- Liliane St. Pierre (1975 - Nederlandse en Franse versie)
- Jezus people 2000 (1978 - Nederlandse en Franse versie)
- Liliane St. Pierre (1988)
- In kontrast (1990)
- 31 jaar (1995)
- Ik ben wie ik ben (1997)
- Gewoon een vrouw (1998)

Websites :
- Liliane has an official site at http://www.ping.be/hcns/liliane