The “Golden Hits Of The 70s”
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FRANCE JOLI
“COME TO ME”
(Tony Green)
Prelude 8001
No. 15 November 17, 1979
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France Joli (b. 1963, Dorion, Montreal) hit the ground running. As a tot, she would lip sync while
jumping rope with a microphone. She was encouraged to take drama, dance, and voice lessons; at age
four, she was performing professionally. By 11, France was so busy doing local radio, TV spots and
commercials, that her parents let her drop out of school to pursue her career.
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Two years later, Joli sought out Canadian recording artist/teen idol Tony Green. After one of his sets,
she followed a bunch of excited teenyboppers backstage. “They went backstage to get Tony’s autograph,”
she told Cashbox. “I went backstage to audition.”
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As Tony Green recalled to Cashbox, “She showed up with a couple of Barbra Streisand albums and had
the nerve to sing a duet with the record.” Apparently, Tony was impressed: he eventually became
France’s manager–succeeding Mama, Michelle Joli, wrote some songs for her–including her lone
looper, produced her first recordings, and got the girl her first recording contract.
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“Come to Me” was the 16-year-old’s virgin vinyl voyage, and it charted fairly well on both Billboard’s pop
and R & B (#36) listings. Despite the rapid fire of subsequent releases, however, Joli retains one of the
lowest profiles in all of one-hitdom; this all despite the fact that she continued to record well into the
’80s, often for Epic–a then major label.
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Joli appeared and won guest slots on the Bob Hope, Merv Griffin, and Dinah Shore TV shows; played the
Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas with Peaches & Herb and in 1982 performed at Radio City Music Hall with the
Commodores.
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