[9] Abandoning higher education at age 14 (1961), after moving to Croix des Oiseaux, she began working in a local factory in Montfavet (a suburb southeast of town), contributing to the family income and paying for her singing lessons.

Both sisters received bicycles on credit to commute, resulting in long days and difficult memories of riding against the mistral winds.

"[5] Her victory earned her a free trip to Paris and a pre-audition for the televised talent show Jeu de la Chance ("Game of Luck"), where amateur singers competed for audience and telephone votes.

Stark had worked with artists such as Yves Montand, and the relationship between him and Mathieu is often likened to that of Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis Presley.

The exact circumstances remain unknown, but Mathieu was suddenly moved up to compete live on the Sunday, 21 November 1965 episode of Jeu de la Chance, a talent segment of the popular French program Télé-Dimanche.

Both the studio audience and telephone voters gave her a slight lead over five-time winner Georgette Lemaire [fr], so the producers called it a tie.

Stark officially became her manager that night, and with the help of his longtime assistant Nadine Joubert, prepared Mathieu to win the contest the following week and defeat Lemaire.

[5] In a short film called La guerre des Piaf (War of the Sparrows), Mathieu and Lemaire were interviewed separately, both being of the same diminutive height.

The Olympia performance convinced a skeptical Paul Mauriat to work with Mireille, and songwriter André Pascal joined forces to develop her into a successful act.

Together they wrote new modern material for her: Mon crédo, Viens dans ma rue, La première étoile, and many other hit songs.

[5] A regular early contributor of material was Francis Lai, who wrote two songs, C'est ton nom and Un homme et une femme for her first album, and who often accompanied her with his accordion on television.

Following her second performance, her French cover of Engelbert Humperdinck's "The Last Waltz" (La dernière valse) generated much publicity in Great Britain and became a hit record, even though the original had been number one only a few months earlier.

While visiting Hollywood, she met Elvis Presley, and in Las Vegas, Nevada, she sang with Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra.

This television special featured puppets along with fifty years of traditional Mexican songs, producing popular versions in Spanish, French, and English.

In 1988, W. Kordes' Söhne, a German rose-breeding company, introduced the Mireille Mathieu Rose to match her favorite lipstick color.

Mathieu recounts that her mother was often surprised to read on the front page that she was engaged to someone famous or was going to star in a movie directed by a well-known director.

The most controversial event of Mathieu's career, according to the media at the time, occurred when she took over Stark's office and ended her business relationship with Nadine Joubert.

Mathieu performed again at the Palais des Congrès in November and December 1990 with a special two-hour concert without intermission, featuring a new haircut reminiscent of Louise Brooks and a very simple black dress created by French couturier Pierre Cardin.

This compilation included a cover of Toni Braxton's hit "Unbreak My Heart", translated into French as "Reste avec moi".

In 1999, Mathieu released another German album, Alles nur ein Spiel, featuring several modern songs with a techno sound, including "C'est ça l'amour" and "Wenn die Sehnsucht erwacht."

In 2002, Mathieu released her thirty-seventh French album, De tes mains (EMI), followed by a series of concerts at the Paris Olympia in November and a tour in France, Belgium, and Switzerland.

[30] In November 2011, Mathieu canceled her concert in Israel for the second time that year due to the promoter's failure to meet the required ticket sales.

[citation needed] During an interview in Moscow, Mathieu remarked that the group Pussy Riot had committed a sacrilege in the church by staging a political demonstration against President Putin.

The French television program "On n'est pas couché" edited out the second half of her statement and labeled her a tool of President Putin.

[citation needed] In December 2013, her lawyers won a lawsuit against MGM Home Entertainment for failing to compensate her production company, Abilene Disc, for the 1967 song Les Yeux de l'amour (The Eyes of Love), which was used in the German version of the movie Casino Royale.

[33] Since 2009, she has been the main guest star of the Spasskaya Tower Military Music Festival and Tattoo, held on Moscow's Red Square.

[34] On 5 September 2013, during her concert at the festival, she performed in a light dress under icy rain and gusty winds, refusing an offer for a coat as she deemed it disrespectful to the freezing audience in the stands.

[citation needed] Mathieu performed her 50th Anniversary tour in Germany and Austria from 1 to 16 March 2015, singing at sold-out venues in twelve different cities.

She participated in a concert titled The Allies of the Great Victory: A Musical Story, featuring the Jazz Band of Igor Butman (Russia-US).

Her sisters Monique—who is also her manager—and Marie France accompanied her mother on the trip, who then made a brief appearance with her on stage, escorted by the family servant, Hervé-Marc.