Editing Mireille Mathieu (section)

===Breakthrough (1965–1967)===
[[File:Mireille Mathieu by Reginald Gray.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Portrait for the ''New York Times'' by [[Reginald Gray (artist)|Reginald Gray]], 1966]]
Mathieu was invited to Paris by impresario Régis Durcourt to sing on the ''Song Parade'' television program on 19 November 1965. [[Johnny Stark (talent manager)|Johnny Stark]] had promised to write to her, but after months of waiting, she gave up on him and accepted Durcourt's offer. The exact circumstances remain unknown, but Mathieu was suddenly moved up to compete live on the Sunday, 21 November 1965 episode of ''Jeu de la Chance'', a talent segment of the popular French program ''Télé-Dimanche''. Stark's ex-wife, Nanou Taddéi, who worked at Studio 102, likely recognized Mathieu, as she had participated in her earlier pre-audition. Mathieu explained that ''Song Parade'' offered only one opportunity to sing, while ''Jeu de la Chance'' offered multiple chances, but only if she won, and she intended to win.

Both the studio audience and telephone voters gave her a slight lead over five-time winner {{ill|Georgette Lemaire|fr|Georgette Lemaire}}, so the producers called it a tie. Stark officially became her manager that night, and with the help of his longtime assistant Nadine Joubert, prepared Mathieu to win the contest the following week and defeat Lemaire. Stark and Lemaire had a mutual dislike.<ref name="autobiography"/> 

In a short film called ''La guerre des Piaf'' (War of the Sparrows), Mathieu and Lemaire were interviewed separately, both being of the same diminutive height. Mathieu was surrounded by her sisters Monique and Christiane, with Stark hovering in the background as she faced her first on-camera interview. She appeared uncomfortable, staring at the floor during many of the questions and even looking dumbfounded at one point, until Stark finally came to her rescue. In a later interview, she emphasized the significance of the event, stating, "For me, Paris was the end of the world. I had never taken a train or seen a camera before. I did not know what the outcome of the adventure would be."<ref name="heart">{{Cite news|last=Lemancel|first=Anne-Laure|title=Mireille au grand coeur: Trente-huitième album de Mireille Mathieu|url=http://www.rfimusique.com/musiquefr/articles/069/article_15759.asp|access-date=22 September 2010|newspaper=RFI Musique}}</ref>

{{Quote box |width=300px |align=right|quoted=true |bgcolor=#FFFFF0 |salign=right|quote=Mireille has everything to learn. How to walk, how to breathe, how to enunciate properly. But no one should ever interfere with that voice.|source = Johnny Stark, 1966}}

In the middle of her seven consecutive performances on ''Télé-Dimanche'',<ref name="lannoo" /> she performed a concert at the [[Paris Olympia]], which propelled her to stardom. She signed with [[Bruno Coquatrix]], the owner of the Olympia, on 20 December, and performed the only three Piaf songs she had memorized two days later.<ref name="autobiography" /><ref name="lannoo">{{Cite book|last=Stéphany|first=Pierre|title=Les années 60 en Belgique|year=2006|publisher=Lannoo|isbn=978-2-87386-487-3|pages=149|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xwHQ71GVSnwC&pg=PA149}}</ref> She was hailed in the press, in France and abroad, as the ''Piaf d'Avignon'' (Sparrow of Avignon), in reference to Piaf's nickname "Sparrow of the Streets."<ref name="life magazine" />

All was not going well at this point. Mathieu said, "I was managed to such mimicry of my idol that I thought I was not able to do anything else. It was instantly one of the biggest disappointments of my life."<ref name="page-biography">Page, Christian. ''Mireille Mathieu''. Paris: Bréa, 1983.</ref> Stark then abandoned the Piaf direction he was taking her in. The Olympia performance convinced a skeptical [[Paul Mauriat]] to work with Mireille, and songwriter [[André Pascal]] joined forces to develop her into a successful act. Together they wrote new modern material for her: ''Mon crédo'', ''Viens dans ma rue'', ''La première étoile,'' and many other hit songs.<ref name="autobiography"/> Her first album, ''[[En Direct de L'Olympia]]'', on the [[Barclay Records|Barclay]] label, was released in 1966. Highly acclaimed, along with the singles and [[Extended play|EP]]s from it, the album made her a star outside France.<ref name="autobiography"/>

A regular early contributor of material was [[Francis Lai]], who wrote two songs, ''C'est ton nom'' and ''Un homme et une femme'' for her first album, and who often accompanied her with his [[accordion]] on television. Her first record was recorded in the EMI studios, with Paul Mauriat's band.<ref name="autobiography"/> Mathieu's success led her record company, Barclay, to claim that they controlled 40% of the French pop record market.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Hot Roster Making Barclay a Pop Giant|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6xAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA32|access-date=22 September 2010|newspaper=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|date=28 May 1966}}</ref>  
[[File:Johynny Stark et Mireille Mathieu (dossier Ariola JS).jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Johnny Stark (talent manager)|Johnny Stark]] and Mathieu, 1971]]  

Mathieu spent all of 1966 and 1967 touring. It was then, during a car journey to another concert, that Stark advised Mathieu that she was finally debt-free and worth more than a million francs (US$200,000 in 1967). She had always prayed that she could get her family out of poverty, but the touring and singing were much more important at the time. In her autobiography, she stated her first major purchases were a vehicle for her father's business and a large home for her parents and siblings. Most importantly, she had a telephone installed for the family, so her parents no longer had to go to the pharmacy to talk to her while she was in Paris. Her one regret was that she was unable to see her grandmother Germaine in the hospital before she died because of all the tour contracts.

Mathieu arrived in Paris with two dresses and a change of underwear, and Stark set her up in style, sent for Mathieu's two eldest sisters, and let them go shopping for a week. He then rented her a home and a maid in the smart district of [[Neuilly sur Seine|Neuilly]] after she had won, and made sure she only had her singing to worry about. Stark recorded all the expenses, though, and he was fully compensated before a franc was ever put in Mathieu's account.<ref name="autobiography"/>

Mathieu sang at the [[London Palladium]] during royal performances (before the Queen and her family), first in 1967, with further performances in 1969 and 1981. Following her second performance, her French cover of [[Engelbert Humperdinck (singer)|Engelbert Humperdinck]]'s "[[The Last Waltz (song)|The Last Waltz]]" (La dernière valse) generated much publicity in Great Britain and became a hit record, even though the original had been number one only a few months earlier. She also toured Canada and the United States, where she appeared on ''[[The Ed Sullivan Show]]'' and the ''[[Danny Kaye|Danny Kaye Show]]''. While visiting Hollywood, she met [[Elvis Presley]], and in [[Las Vegas]], [[Nevada]], she sang with [[Dean Martin]] and [[Frank Sinatra]].<ref name="autobiography"/>