Viktor Lazlo on stage at CRR
Dronier took her stage name from Paul Henreid’s character Victor Laszlo from the 1942 film Casablanca.
She began her career in 1985 with a mix of songs in French, English, and Spanish. A French-language cover of Julie London’s “Cry Me a River” (“Pleurer des Rivières”) became a big hit across Europe a year later. In 1987, she hosted the televised broadcast of the Eurovision contest, which was held in Belgium that year. That same year, she had another Euro hit with “Breathless,” a duet with the American singer James Ingram. After a move back to France in 1989 she released a series of successful albums before the ambitious Verso appeared in 1996 with funk and dub influences and a guest appearance from the classic reggae rhythm section of Sly & Robbie.