The French chanteuse Catherine Ringer signalled her robust, no-nonsense Gallic attitude when French president Emmanuel Macron tried unsuccessfully to kiss her on the cheek in 2024 after she had sung La Marseillaise. It was a powerful signal – she had adapted the national anthem’s lyrics to celebrate France having signed into law the constitutional right to abortion.
It was not the first time she had shown her mettle. In a chat show with the provocative singer-songwriter and actor Serge Gainsbourg, she lashed out when he reminded her of her past roles in pornographic films, describing her as an “adult actress”. He accused her of being “nothing but a filthy whore”, which drew the riposte: “Look at you, you’re just a bitter old alcoholic. I used to admire you but these days you’ve become a disgusting old parasite.”
Despite the hostility of her words, Ringer was noted for having addressed Gainsbourg with calm and dignity, and later reiterated her artistic respect for him by choosing to cover his well-known song Je suis venu te dire que je m’en vais in a TV appearance.
Catherine Ringer, who has died aged 68, became a luminary of the French pop scene with her fusion of new wave, chanson, rock and synthpop in the duo Les Rita Mitsouko, which she co-founded with Fred Chichin. She was also noted for working with Sparks and Iggy Pop. Armed with a range of talents, she forged a career as an acclaimed songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, dancer, choreographer and actress.
Known in her earlier days as much for her unconventional dress sense as for the high drama and wild energy of her performances, her act was sometimes dubbed the French Eurythmics. Her voice had an edgy, plangent quality, possessing a demanding tone that refused to be ignored.
Born in Suresnes, a Paris suburb, on October 18, 1957, she hailed from an artistic family as the daughter of Polish French artist and gymnast Sam Ringer, who had survived nine concentration camps and had been forced to work on the construction of Auschwitz; and Jeannine née Ettinger, an architect. School and the academic life were clearly not for her. She was only 15 when she left the Collége Honoré de Balzac, soon after appearing, of her own volition, in pornographic films, insisting that “nobody forced me”.
She began working in musical theatre in the 1970s, and in 1976 she studied with the Argentine dancer and choreographer Marcia Moretto, who became a mentor to her and influenced her later work with Les Rita Mitsouko.
When she was 18 she was talent-spotted by Greek avant-garde composer Iannis Xenakis, appearing as a soloist in his piece N-Shimav at the Théâtre de la Ville. In the late 1970s she took roles in productions with Michael Lonsdale’s Théâtre de Recherche Musicale in addition to working in musical and dance productions.
As lead singer in the political rock opera Flash Rouge, she met guitarist Fred Chichin, who had been newly released from prison following a drugs conviction. Their relationship blossomed, both on a personal and professional level, and in 1980 they were ready for their launch as Rita Mitsouko.They opted to add the prefix “Les” to avoid the assumption that Catherine herself was Rita. Their first three singles flopped, but four years later they recorded their debut album, co-produced by Conny Plank, who went on to produce Ultravox and the Eurythmics.
Ringer wrote their third single, Marcia Baila, as a tribute to Moretto, who had worked with the duo but died in 1981 at the age of 36 from breast cancer. The single, launched with a promo video featuring pieces designed by Thierry Mugler and Jean-Paul Gaultier, propelled the duo to the top of the French pop scene, and was followed by a cover version in 1985 of All Tomorrow’s Parties for the Velvet Underground tribute album Les Enfants du Velvet.
The duo’s star was now clearly rising and their 1986 LP The No Comprendo, which was recorded with producer Tony Visconti in London, was named Album of the Year at the Victoires de la Musique awards and was praised by the Telegraph for being “full of life and ideas”. Excerpts from that album was included in Jean-Luc Godard’s 1987 film Keep Your Right Up. Future albums, recorded using including samplers and sequencers, adopted a more electronic approach and featured plus contributions from the Sparks brothers Ron and Russell Mael.
Their seventh LP, 2007’s Variéte, was their final studio album. In November of that year Fred Chichin died of cancer, leaving her with their son, Raoul, and two daughters, Simone and Ginger. Ringer continued to lead the group after Chichin’s death.
Following the release of the 2010 Gotan Project album Tango 3.0, Ringer joined Eduardo Makaroff and Christoph H Müller to create Plaza Francia, now known as Plaza Francia Orchestra, for 2014 album A New Tango Song Book, for which she provided lead vocals. The album was widely acclaimed and became a commercial success in France and Belgium.
Ringer was named an Officier des Arts et Lettres in 2016. In 2017, her son Raoul joined her for her second solo album, Chroniques et Fantaisies.
Not one to hold back on her opinions, especially where climate change was concerned, Ringer was arrested at a 2018 protest against the destruction of a Romainville forest. She was eventually acquitted of a trespass charge.
The next year, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of her meeting with Chichin, she staged a show at the Paris Philharmonic. She toured the show L’Erotisme de vivre in 2021 until a few months before her death from cancer. As a nod to her father, who had been a friend of the poet Alice Mendelsohn, she included versions of her poems in that performance. She is survived by her son Raoul and her daughters Simone and Ginger.
GLORIA TESSLER
Catherine Ringer: born October 18, 1957. Died: September 14, 2026
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