Mireille Mathieu-"L'Americain"

[In memory of Johnny Stark].
Johnny Stark, born Roger Oscar Emile Stark (August 29, 1922 – April 24, 1989), was a French impresario. He is perhaps best known for working with Édith Piaf and representing Mireille Mathieu from the 1960s until his death, thus assisting her rise to international stardom. Many people thought that Johnny Stark was born in America. He was often referred to as l'Américain. The nickname comes from his manner, which was non-French. He spoke many languages, and was very intense in business matters. Both Mireille Mathieu and her father also thought he was American, and Johnny was surprised when Mireille's little brothers called him Cowboy. He had a very distinctive birthmark on his left cheek, that he never had removed. Johnny Stark was at work in his Wagram office in Paris, when he suffered his second heart attack that Monday morning. He was rushed by ambulance to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. As he was divorced in the 1980s, and estranged from his family, Mireille Mathieu had his body entombed in the Mathieu family mausoleum at the Saint Véran Catholic cemetery in Avignon. Johnny Stark left behind a legal "bloody mess." It took Mathieu and her lawyers years to close out and process his estate. "I was severely depressed, but I got out without needing analysis." The most controversial event of Mathieu's career, according to the media of the time, occurred when she took over Stark's office, and ended her business relationship with Nadine Joubert. She lost confidence in Nadine who tried to modernize her act after Mathieu's» l'Américain» album failed miserably, with the strain of Stark's legal affairs having set her back financially. Her sister Monique stepped in to become her business manager, and the two women have remained profitable in the industry ever since.