Mireille Mathieu, a renowned French singer, was born on July 22, 1946, in Avignon, France, to a family of fourteen children. Her father, Roger, and his family were native to Avignon, while her mother, Marcelle-Sophie (née Poirier),was from Dunkirk.
Growing up in poverty, the Mathieu family's living conditions improved significantly in 1954 when they moved into subsidized housing in the Malpeigné quarter. They later relocated to a larger tenement in the Croix des Oiseaux quarter in 1961.
Roger, Mireille's father, had once dreamed of becoming a singer, but his father disapproved, inspiring him to encourage one of his children to learn to sing with him in church. Mireille's first paid performance was at age four, singing on Christmas Eve 1950 during Midnight Mass, and she was rewarded with a lollipop.
A defining moment for Mireille was watching Édith Piaf sing on television. She struggled in elementary school due to dyslexia, requiring an extra year to graduate. Despite being born left-handed, she was forced to use her right hand due to her teachers' strict methods, although her left hand remains active while singing.
Mireille's fantastic memory allows her to perform without a prompter on stage. She abandoned higher education at age 14 and began working in a local factory in Montfavet, where she helped support her family and paid for her singing lessons.
At the factory, she became popular for her singing and often performed at lunch or while working. Like her parents, Mireille is a short woman, standing at 1.52 m (5 feet) in height. Her sister Monique began working at the same factory a few months after Mireille.
The factory eventually went out of business, and Mireille and two sisters became youth counselors at a summer camp before her rise to fame. During this summer, she had her fortune told by Tarot cards, predicting that she would soon mingle with royalty.
