Fabienne Demal (born 15 February 1968), better known by her stage name Axelle Red, is a Belgian singer-songwriter. She has released 12 albums, including Sans plus attendre, À Tâtons, Toujours Moi and Jardin Secret. She is best known for her 1993 single "Sensualité", a hit in France in 1994.
Axelle Red was born as Fabienne Demal on 15 February 1968 in Hasselt, Flanders, Belgium, the daughter of Roland Demal, a solicitor in Hasselt and a councillor for the Flemish Liberals and Democrats (VLD) in the City Council. She has lived in Paris and currently lives in a village near Brussels. In 1983, aged 14, Fabienne Demal produced her first single, "Little Girls", using the artist name Fabby. In 1986, she chose the artist name Axelle Red. Her stage name was not only a reference to the color of her hair. It was also a nod to the character of the singer, namely 'fiery' and 'fighting'.
Axelle Red graduated from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) as a lawyer in 1993.
Despite her Flemish origin, she decided to focus on a French-language career. In 1993, her first album Sans Plus Attendre was released, which immediately resulted in her artistic break-out in France, Switzerland, Canada and Belgium, where sales amounted to more than 200,000.
Axelle Red received an International Federation of the Phonographic Industry platinum award for sales of more than 1 million; a year later she sold out the Paris Olympia for the first time.
In 1998, she married Filip Vanes (still her husband and manager at Music & Roses).
That year, she also sang the official anthem, "La Cour des Grands", with Youssou N'Dour at the opening ceremony of the 1998 FIFA World Cup in the Stade de France outside Paris, before a television audience of over a billion people. Seven months pregnant with her daughter, Janelle, in her shows devoted to soul and rhythm and blues she was joined by her heroes, Wilson Pickett, Sam Moore, Eddie Floyd, Percy Sledge and Ann Peebles. Axelle supported Amnesty International's grand benefit concert in Paris, although under doctor's orders, she was advised not to perform herself due to her pregnancy. That same year saw the release of her Spanish album, Con Solo Pensarlo.
In 1999, Axelle received the most important music award in France for female artist of the year, the Victoire de la Musique, while her third studio album, Toujours Moi, was also released, written and produced by herself. It sold more than 800,000 copies.
In 2002, her fourth studio album, Face A / Face B, was released. The title refers to the vinyl records from the sixties labelled "fast and slow" side (an up-tempo side for dancing and a ballad side for slows). It was a co-production with producer Al Stone.
In 2003, her second daughter, Gloria, was born. A CD box was also released comprising three CDs with numerous previously unreleased tracks such as duets with Charles Aznavour, Francis Cabrel, Stephan Eicher, Sylvie Vartan, Arno and Tom Barman. Her duet with Renaud, "Manhattan-Kaboul", had the most airplay in France that year and notched up sales of more than 800,000 singles, for which Axelle and Renaud received an NRJ music award at Midem in Cannes.
In 2004, Axelle made her acting debut in Rudolf Mestdagh's film Ellektra. ...
Source: Article "Axelle Red" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
