died June 14, 2021 TONIA Bern-Campbell, who has died aged 84 (there are suggestions she was actually 93), was a Belgian-born singer whose career was mentored by Maurice Chevalier. The French crooner’s mother was a cousin of Bern’s grandmother. Chevalier encouraged the teenager to enter a talent contest, at which one of the judges was Jacques Brel. Taking her under his wing, Brel trained her in a vocal style akin to his own. “He changed my songs from pretty to blatantly realistic,” Bern-Campbell said. She later sang If You Go Away, the English language version of Ne me quitte pas, penned by Brel and translated by Rod McKuen.
Lorrae Desmond: Soap opera star and matriarch of Australian showbusiness yahoo.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from yahoo.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.