Ophélie Kleerekoper-Winter (born 20 February 1974) is a French pop and R&B singer and actress. She is the daughter of Dutch singer David Alexandre Winter and French fashion model Catherine Fefeu. She rose to prominence in much of Europe after signing with EastWest Records in 1995 and released her hit song "Dieu m'a donné la foi" which reached number one on the French singles chart as well as other hits: "le feu qui m'attise", "Shame on U", "Elle Pleure"" and "Sache"".
Winter was born in Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine. Her father David Alexandre Winter was a Dutch pop singer who had some success during the 1970s, while her mother Catherine Fefeu was a French fashion model, who is now her agent. Her brother Michael is a singer and TV presenter.
Her parents divorced when she was just two years old and she moved to Paris with her mother and brother, while her father left for the United States. In 1984, at the age of 10, she recorded her first song in France, La Chanson des Klaxons and three years later another song, Poil de Carotte, in French. At the age of 17, she was discovered by a modeling agent on the Champs-Élysées in Paris and after three years of modeling, she decided to become a singer and an actress.
Ophélie Winter has released four studio albums starting in 1996, with her debut album, No Soucy!, which her brother collaborated on, Privacy, Explicit Lyrics and Résurrection. The singer Prince wrote her a song. It was announced at one point that Prince intended The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, to be recorded in multiple languages by local artists, but it is unknown how many of these recordings took place; one recording that was made was Le Garçon Le Plus Beau Dans L’Univers by French model and actress Ophélie Winter (intended for a single, Le Garçon Le Plus Beau Dans L’Univers), but this remains unreleased. Ophélie Winter was a featured model in a photoshoot with Prince/0)+> in 1995, holding his gold symbol guitar.
In 2014, she participated in the fifth season of Danse avec les stars, the French version of Dancing with the Stars. She was partnered with professional dancer Christophe Licata. On October 10, 2014, they were eliminated finishing 10th out of 11 contestants.
She currently resides in Paris making various TV appearances. Her look-alike puppet is in the French show "Les Guignols de l'info" (1988).
Source: Article "Ophélie Winter" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
