VALADON, Emma

Thérésa (born Désirée Emma Valladon but cited simply as Emma Valladon; 7 September 1836 — 14 May 1913) was a French singer. She often worked with Suzanne Lagier and had cartoons (caricatures) drawn by André Gill of her for the newspaper La Lune. As a child, Valladon dreamt of being a singer but began her career working in fashion studios.

She began her singing career by performing in small café chantants (cafe concerts) in Paris, such as in the Café Moka, Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin and the Café des Giants, enjoying modest success. During a Christmas show, Valladon was noticed by Arsène Goubert, the director of the café chantant Alcazar, who offered her three hundred francs to sing there; at this she began to use the stage name Thérésa. Within a month of her arrival at the Alcazar, Thérésa enjoyed great success both with the public and critics, and also later went to perform in Rome, Italy, and Saint Petersburg, Russia. She often worked with Suzanne Lagier and in the case of "El", they were appreciated by the public but not the critics. Increasing her popularity, Thérésa was depicted in several cartoons (caricatures) by André Gill in the newspaper La Lune. From 1867 to 1869, she took a break from singing as a result of laryngitis, which made her lose her voice, but then returned with the "popular" Les canards tyroliens.