Madeleine Peyroux

Madeleine Peyroux (born 1974, Athens, Georgia, USA) is an American jazz singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Peyroux (either 'Peru' or 'Pay-roo') is noted for her vocal style, which has been compared to that of Billie Holiday. Peyroux has cited Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith, Patsy Cline, Édith Piaf, Leonard Cohen, Johnny Mercer, Charlie Chaplin, Serge Gainsbourg and Bob Dylan as influences on her music. Peyroux's family was in academia. When Peyroux... more

Madeleine Peyroux (born 1974, Athens, Georgia, USA) is an American jazz singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Peyroux (either 'Peru' or 'Pay-roo') is noted for her vocal style, which has been compared to that of Billie Holiday. Peyroux has cited Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith, Patsy Cline, Édith Piaf, Leonard Cohen, Johnny Mercer, Charlie Chaplin, Serge Gainsbourg and Bob Dylan as influences on her music. Peyroux's family was in academia. When Peyroux was six, her father moved the family to Brooklyn so he could pursue a career in acting. She grew up in New York City and southern California; when her parents divorced, she moved with her mother to Paris at age 13. In several interviews, Peyroux described her parents as "hippies" and classifies them as "eccentric educators", which helped her to pursue a career in music. She has stated that her father would "listen to old records all the time" and her mother had a ukulele that she learned how to play while she was still a child. Peyroux... less