JO LEMAIRE & FLOUZE

Group formed around Jo Lemaire and her husband Phillippe Depireux, around 1977.

In 1978, they release two singles without a record company. "Thief forever" and "Stakhanov" get a very good reception in the new-wave circles. From that moment on, things start to go fast for Jo Lemaire and Flouze.

After the excellent debut-album "Jo Lemaire and Flouze" of 1979, the group surges in a lot of hitlists with the singles "So static" and "Follow me in the air". The reason, as Oor's Pop encyclopedia put it : "The group has a sound which reminds vaguely - because of the saxophone - to Roxy Music and is heavily influenced by the voice of Jo Lemaire, a crossover between the punky and sensuous Siouxsie Sioux and low singing French Juliette Gréco."

"Precious time" and "Pigmy world" are however slightly disappointing. The music gets kind of monotonous and is sometimes unbalanced in quality, despite the cooperation of Vinni Reilly (of Durutti Column, and later on with Morrissey on his first solo-albums).

With the third album a single is released for which alone the group deserves a place in every music archive : "Je suis venue te dire que je m'en vais" (I've come to tell I'm leaving) - a cover of the song by French genius Serge Gainsbourg. The song becomes a hit all over Europe (platinum in Belgium) and later on figures on a compilation by Gainsbourg ("il les fait chanter" - He makes 'em sing) amidst Jane Birkin, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot.

Despite all these fine achievements, the band kept firing and hiring musicians at a rate which is not healthy for any group, and after the marriage between Jo & drummer Philippe Depireux fails, the group splits in the year 1982.

Jo Lemaire went on from there and built a successful career as a solo-artist, for which she has earned her own place in these archives (see Jo Lemaire).

Band members :
- Jo Lemaire (vocals)
- Philippe Depireux (drums)
- Alain Pire (guitar)
- ...

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Albums :
- Jo Lemaire & Flouze (Vertigo - 1979)
- Precious time (Vertigo - 1980)
- Pigmy world (Vertigo - 1981)

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