Somewhere between earth and heaven, there’s Camille – and a life of music and creation.
Born in Paris in 1978, Camille grew up listening to the voices of Fiona Apple, Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald, Elton John, Claude Nougaro, Michael Jackson and Ray Charles – as well as that of her father, Hervé Dalmais, whose songs and guitar bestowed an enchanted childhood. She made her own rules: spontaneous, instinctive, organic and, whenever possible, collaborating with others. Self-taught and free from academic hang- ups, Camille explored her vast vocal potential, from lyricism to overtone singing in 2002 with Le Sac des Filles. Acclaimed for the singularity of her poetic and vocal signature, she received the blessing of Claude Nougaro, collaborated with Jean-Louis Murat, Gérard Manset and Étienne de Crécy, before joining the Nouvelle Vague Collective. Giving new wave classics a bossa nova languor, Camille sings “In a Manner of Speaking” (Tuxedomoon), “Guns of Brixton” (The Clash), “Too Drunk to Fuck” (Dead Kennedys) ... Punk! 

Released in 2005, Camille’s second album Le Fil marks a real turning point in her career. With this cult album and its hum in B, she transcends the deeply intimate mourning of what it means to become a woman. For her, there’s no doubt that vibration is healing, and music therapeutic. Linked to the wild and the sacred, her art naturally comes into its own on stage: her concerts are total performances that engage her entire being, reflecting her relationship with creation. Her voice, heart and body form an indivisible whole developed with choreographer Elsa Wolliaston in her albums. 

In 2008, Music Hole centered on body percussion and vocal polyphony, testing the musical and rhythmic richness of Camille’s two native languages: French and English. Three years later, Ilo Veyou celebrates love and motherhood, with sensual songs that verge on the mystical. Driven by a quest for accuracy and purity, in 2017 Camille finally introduced the shamanic drum to her repertoire for OUÏ, a fifth opus rooted in the energy 
of the earth. Pop refrain, medieval plainchant, minimalist lullaby, onomatopoeia, gospel incantation, traditional theme, music of living things and natural echo of an abbey all join together. 

From one album to the next, Camille exhibits a virtuosity and inventiveness unrivalled in the French musical landscape. She has collaborated with David Byrne, Bobby Mc Ferrin, Jamie Cullum, Philippe Katerine, Reggie Watts, Etienne Daho, Saul Williams, Christophe, M and Jacques Higelin. Since 2021, alongside her concerts Camille’s participatory singing circles, known as LALÀ, share the virtues of vibration, organic or body music and the present moment with as many people as possible. That same year, Camille directed Comme un Poisson dans l’Air, a highly sensory first feature-length film that gently and poetically documents the ancestral connecting power of voice and sound, as she awaits the birth of her second child. This research continues today with The Sound of Milk, a long-awaited album in which Camille honors both mother’s milk and song, their grace, purity and vitality, by inviting her children to participate in this most intimate of records. 

Camille’s exceptionally diverse career also includes the stage and movies, as an actress, performer and composer. World-famous for having lent her voice to Colette, the heroine of the animated film Ratatouille, in which she sings the title track, “Le Festin”, Camille also wrote the soundtracks for Raphaël Neal’s Fever, Géraldine Nakache’s J'irai où tu iras and, alongside Hans Zimmer, co-composed that of Mark Osborne’s The Little Prince. Last year, Camille signed, with her partner Clément Ducol, the soundtrack of Jacques Audiard’s award-winning film: Emilia Perez, a musical composed in Spanish that won the Golden Globe!

— Jeanne Lacaille