Who is that? Why, it's the Belgian recording artist Jeanne-Paule Marie Deckers - frequently remembered as The Singing Nun. She had a self-penned worldwide hit single in late 1963. It was titled "Dominique" and it was sung in French in honour of Saint Dominic who founded the Dominican Order of Catholicism in The Middle Ages.
Mme Deckers was indeed a nun but not for very long. In 1966 she left her convent and her holy orders but continued to live a pious life, opening a school for autistic children in her home town in Belgium. Financially, she was ripped off both by the Catholic church and by her recording company - Philips. That led to overwhelming financial worries that played a big part in her early death.
Though at one time she vehemently denied it, she was probably homosexual for she lived with her friend Annie Pécher in a shared apartment for many years. Tragically, on March 29th 1985, they committed suicide together in Wavre, Belgium where they were later buried together. The Singing Nun was only fifty one years old. The inscription on their shared headstone might be translated thus: "I saw her soul fly through the clouds".
People of my generation will recall the haunting simplicity of "Dominique" in a musical landscape that in 1963 was becoming increasingly populated by wannabe stars and electric guitars. Please listen:-
Domi-nic-nic-nic went about simply,
a poor singing traveller.
On every road, in every place,
He talks only of the Good Lord,
He talks only of the Good Lord.
from Yorkshire Pudding https://ift.tt/Yv6KwoQ
