an interviewer for the RFI Musique website that when she hosted a house party she invited the people she loved the most, and she felt there was no reason why a recording session should be any different. By 1992, Lefel had become well known throughout the Caribbean and her reputation had spread to Mozambique. In that year she released her second album, Mèci (Thanks), which was honored with the Sacem trophy for the best female singer of the year. Mèci broke records for Afro-Caribbean independent artists, selling in excess of 40,000 units. Her third album Rendez-vous, released in 1996, continued to build her reputation as one of the leading female interpreters of Afro-Caribbean genres. But that same year Lefel took her career in quite a different direction, with a live recording made at the famed Olympia theater in Paris. In Edith Lefel a l'Olympia, the artist expanded her repertoire to include French and English language material, including some of the Parisian street songs that had been popularized by Edith Piaf. She explained that her parents had listened to Piaf when she was young (along with other classic French-language chanteurs like Jacques Brel and Charles Aznavour), and that Edith Lefel had often imitated Edith Piaf at home for their entertainment. On the evening of the Olympia concert, May 11, 1996, Lefel impressed the audience with her immense talent, supported by her friends Ralph Thamar and Jean-Luc Alger, and her husband and children. A very attractive woman whose likeness graced the covers of many prominent French magazines, Lefel died at the height of her powers and popularity in January 2003, at only age 39. She died in her sleep. Autopsy results revealed a combination of smoking and birth control pills as the cause of her death. Edith Lefel is buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery. Discography Albums Le meilleur de Edith Lefel (2003) Si seulement (2002) The best of Edith Lefel (2001) À fleur de peau (1999) Edith Lefel à l'Olympia (1996) Rendez-vous (1996) Mèci (1992) La Klé (1988) Sanglots Edith Lefel chante Édith Piaf (1999) also appearing on Tilda (Ronald Rubinel, 1987) Further reading References External links RFIMusique.com artist biography (English google translation) SSBSTORE.com Zouk music and videos to download ZoukMix.com examples of the genre 1963 births 2003 deaths Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery 20th-century French women singers