Marcia will no longer dance. Catherine Ringer passed away this Monday, September 14 in the night. The iconic singer of Rita Mitsouko died at the age of 68 from “a devastating cancer”, as her loved ones announced in a press release on Tuesday. Original, sometimes eccentric and above all completely crazy, the artist left a mark on the French with her music, her art, but also her always very free speeches, regardless of the context. The opportunity to look back at the singer's most notable television sequences.
A first TV at 11 years old
Many will not remember it. But Catherine Ringer appeared on television as an actress in 1969, when she was just 11 years old. It was in the TV film Les Deux Coquines that the future singer made her debut to the general public, a program in which she played little Kiki.
Catherine Ringer confides in Mireille Dumas about her intimate relationships in 1986
Notably when she was interviewed by Mireille Dumas in 1986 in “Sexy Folies” on Antenne 2, a program which addressed sexuality without taboos. That day, she unabashedly returned to the reasons that pushed her to act in pornographic films. “It takes courage. Maybe porn was my military service,” she explained. With the same freedom of tone, Catherine Ringer claimed to have had sexual relations with around a hundred men.
“When I was little, it was terrible, I couldn’t stop. For example, the first time I made love with a guy, I was in high school, I was around 13 years old and I absolutely wanted to make love with someone. At the same time, the boys who I really liked physically would send me away, which meant that I ended up with others. And I often asked them: “I would like to make love. Couldn’t we make love together?” after going out two, three times kissing. And in general, they refused,” she testified.
Catherine Ringer facing insults from Serge Gainsbourg
Also in 1986, the young singer appeared on Michel Denisot’s show “Mon zénith à moi” on Canal+. She is then accompanied by another distinguished guest: Serge Gainsbourg. Asked about her past as a pornographic actress, the artist returns in detail to her former profession. “I have never done software, I have always refused. I always refused to pose in Him, in Playboy, I find it pathetic. I only did hardcore,” she explained before being interrupted by a visibly (still) drunk Serge Gainsbourg. “You are a whore,” he kept hammering. And the singer responds intelligently: “No, it’s not the same job.” After several tense exchanges, the man continued to attack the young woman, even threatening to give him “two slaps”. But persevering, Catherine Ringer never gave up. Yet another proof of his strength of character.
Catherine Ringer unleashed at Thierry Ardisson
And then, the Rita Mitsouko, the group made up of Catherine Ringer and Fred Chichin - a couple in the city and to whom we owe the hits Marcia Baïla, Andy, Les histoire d'A. -, began and met with great success. Invited to numerous television sets, the two artists responded in the affirmative to Thierry Ardisson’s invitation. Thus, in “Everybody talks about it” on France 2 in 2000, it was a completely unleashed Catherine Ringer that the man in black received. To each question asked of her, the artist responded by singing, taking the audience with her in front of the eyes of the other astonished guests, notably Roger Hanin and Édouard Balladur.
Catherine Ringer confides in Claire Chazal about the rapes she suffered in “Entrée Libre”
But if Catherine Ringer regularly displayed her originality and eccentricity on television sets, she also knew how to tackle deeper subjects when necessary. Particularly in 2017, when the scandal surrounding Harvey Weinstein's numerous attacks broke out and the MeToo movement was born. The same year, she was received in “Entrée Libre”, a program presented by Claire Chazal on France 5. The artist then revealed that she had been abused.
“I left around 13 and a half years old, I was taken by a narcissistic pervert, much older than me. It must be said, I also wanted to leave the family nest. He trained me to do a lot of things that I suffered from, including pornography. He made me read Emmanuelle when I was 14. It was a time in the 70s when people said it was sexual freedom, that you had to discover new things. In fact, I suffered a lot from it. It was very painful. Just talking about it makes me want to cry again. But let’s just say it wasn’t that easy,” she revealed.
Catherine Ringer returns to her refusal to kiss Emmanuel Macron in “Télématin”
In March 2024, Catherine Ringer is invited to sing the Marseillaise on the occasion of the inclusion of abortion in the French Constitution. But, once the performance is over, the artist pushes away Emmanuel Macron who was trying to give him a kiss. A gesture which caused a lot of talk and which she spoke about on the set of “Télématin” on France 2 a few days later.
“Listen, because I thought it was just the kiss that was misplaced. Not that she was in the wrong place, but that it was a solemn situation. I didn't think it was right for the President to kiss me. Besides, I'm not his friend, either. Myself, I don’t particularly like kissing all the time,” she explained.
