Catherine Ringer, singer of Rita Mitsouko, died at 68

Catherine Ringer, singer of the legendary Rita Mitsouko duo, died of cancer at the age of 68, her manager announced Tuesday to Le Figaro. “It is with immense sadness that the family and loved ones of Catherine Ringer announce her death, lost to devastating cancer on the night of September 14, 2026,” the family also indicates in a press release published shortly after noon.

“A major French artist, half of Rita Mitsouko, Catherine Ringer has marked several generations with her voice and her songs, her great freedom and her singularity,” underlines the press release from her family. With guitarist Fred Chichin, her companion who died in 2007, Catherine Ringer founded one of the most explosive groups in French rock in the early 1980s.

Born on October 18, 1957 in the Paris suburbs of a painter father, a former Jewish deportee, and an architect mother, Catherine Ringer left school at 15, multiplying her artistic experiences and even venturing into porn, a past she never denied. It was in 1979 that she met Fred Chichin who would become her soul mate and her traveling companion within the Rita family for several decades.

A musical shock

She met guitarist Frédéric Chichin at the theater in 1979 and from then on they never left each other. A rock duo was born: Les Rita Mitsouko. A real musical shock. In 1985, the public discovered a young singer who was as charismatic as she was explosive. Alongside the late Fred Chichin, Catherine Ringer propelled Rita Mitsouko to the top of the bill thanks to the unforgettable song Marcia Baila. Many other hits, like Andy, C’est comme ça, Les Histoires d’A, Y’a d’lahate or Les Amants, would follow over the decades.

Despite the sudden disappearance of her double in 2007, this fan of Brassens and the Velvet Underground moved forward. Two years later, the public found her in her clothes as an adorable provocateur. Going against public opinion, she then performed Je kiffe Raymond, dedicated to the very unpopular Domenech. We then heard it again on the soundtrack of Liberté by Tony Gatlif, as well as that of The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec by Luc Besson. A production obviously insufficient for his many admirers. Which is why they will surely rush, at the end of April, to the highly anticipated Ring N’Roll. Catherine Ringer's unique personality always brings together a large audience.

Catherine Ringer had canceled a few dates this summer for medical reasons, without any information emerging on her precise state of health.