Marianne Dissard

French-born, Tucson-based chanteuse Marianne Dissard was born within sight of the Pyrénées mountains in the South of France but has been living in the American West since the age of 16. Singer, writer of lyrics and poetry, filmmaker and performance artist, Marianne Dissard tours extensively the world over, either solo or backed by her American bandmates. Over the course of four acclaimed albums, unique hybrids of Americana and Chanson, she has collaborated with Tucson’s sweethearts Calexico, Howe Gelb, Naïm Amor, Sergio Mendoza, Jim Waters and Brian Lopez as well as with her extended family outside of Arizona, including French chanteuse Françoiz Breut, Berlin choreographer Ami Garmon, Italian composer Christian Ravaglioli and Rhymesayers producer BK-One.

Marianne Dissard’s second ‘official’ album, “L’Abandon” (2011) was released in early 2011 to critical acclaim: “One of the best dark rock records in recent years.” (Lucid Culture), “Quelle richesse, quelle diversité, quelle complexité !” (Le Parisien). Produced by Marianne with Jim Waters (Jon Spencer, Little Rabbits) and BK-One (Rhymesayers, Brother Ali) ‘L’Abandon’ was recorded with Christian Ravaglioli from Italy, Luke Doucet from Canada, Arthur Vint, Connor Gallaher, Sergio Mendoza, Brian Lopez and Thøger Lund. The companion film to the album, ‘Lonesome Cowgirls’, is a bawdy burlesque remake, directed and acted by Marianne, of the Andy Warhol’s 1968 Tucson western, ‘Lonesome Cowboys’. Marianne is spending most of 2011 on tour in China, New Zealand and Australia, Europe and North America, including a Pyrénées walking tour with her donkey.

In 2010, Marianne released her ‘intermediary’ album, “Paris One Takes” (2010) (“8/10″ Blurt, “a fantastic album. 4/5 Stars” Venus Magazine, “Definitely one of our favorite albums of 2010″ Lucid Culture) as a free download in gratitude to her fans. Marianne attended SXSW 2010, blogging about the festival for The Huffington Post and toured the US with Françoiz Breut, including a MOMA performance in NYC.