Singer and actress of the 1940s-1950s, Colette Mars was born in Tangiers, Morocco, then under French protectorate, on August 10, 1916. She enjoyed simultaneous success in film and song, starring alongside Jean Gabin and Martine Carol in the film Miroir, and recording one of her greatest hits, "Il allumait les réverbères". The following year, she starred in Aux yeux du souvenir, and played her own singing role in Jacqueline Audry's Sombre dimanche, a film she also directed for La Garçonne (1957), for which she sang the title song. At the same time, Colette Mars collected hits on 78-turn records, with titles such as "Jimbo l'éléphant", "Nostalgie", "Comme on est bien dans tes bras", "Le Vent emporte ma chanson" and "Un refrain chantait", for the Columbia label. Her career continued in 1955 with the Vogue label, which released the albums Mon P'tit Fichu (1955) and Un Air de Cristal (1956), featuring tunes orchestrated by Pierre Guillermin and Franck Pourcel, where she sang the songs from the films Marty and French Cancan, "La Chanson de Marty " and "La Complainte de la butte" respectively. After a spell as a TV presenter, her film career came to a halt in 1969 after a small role in José Giovanni's Dernier domicile connu. Returning to song in 1975, Colette Mars recorded the collection of popular Parisian songs Sur les Quais du Vieux Paris. She died in Sion, Switzerland, on March 14, 1995, aged 78. The compilation Il Allumait les Réverbères... 1945-1949, released in 2019, retraces his early career.
