Catherine Lara

Catherine Lara (born Catherine Bodet; 29 May 1945) is a French violinist, composer, singer, and author. Over a career spanning more than five decades, she has established herself as an icon in French pop/rock music as well as the neo-classical genre. She has released 26 studio albums, contributed music to numerous television and film productions, and helped stage and produce many theatrical works. Lara is openly lesbian.

Catherine Bodet was born in Poissy, near Paris, the daughter of a doctor and pianist father, and a violinist mother. Catherine started playing the violin at age 5 and entered the Conservatoire de Versailles at age 11, obtaining first prize in 1958. She went on to get the 2nd prize for violin at the Conservatoire de Paris in 1965 and the first prize for chamber music in 1966.

Leaving the Conservatoire, Lara started her own chamber orchestra, Les Musiciens de Paris, in which she played first violin. She then created the Lara Quartet, which accompanied singers on stage, including Claude Nougaro, Nana Mouskouri, Mireille Mathieu, and Jean Ferrat. She played on recordings by Françoise Hardy, Maxime Le Forestier, Georgette Lemaire, Jean Sablon, and Juliette Gréco, as well as writing two songs for Barbara's 1972 album Amours incestueuses. In 1969, Lara opened for Canadian musician Gilles Vigneault at the Olympia music hall in Paris.