The Singing Nun

She was born Jeanne-Paule Marie Deckers, in Laeken, Brussels, Belgium, on 17 October 1933.{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/soeur-sourire-mn0000038958|title=Soeur Sourire – Biography & History|website=AllMusic|access-date=16 March 2019}} The daughter of a pâtisserie owner, she was educated in a Catholic school in Brussels. Her mother thought of her as a "tomboy" and was pleased when she decided to join the all-girl Guides Catholiques de Belgique (GCB).{{cite book |last= Chadwick |first=D. A. |title=The Singing Nun Story: The Life and Death of Soeur Sourire |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lUyaMwEACAAJ |year=2010|page=20 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=978-1-4537-1096-8}} When she was fifteen she had a premonition that she would become a nun.{{cite book |last= Chadwick |first=D. A. |title=The Singing Nun Story: The Life and Death of Soeur Sourire |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lUyaMwEACAAJ |year=2010|page=23 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=978-1-4537-1096-8}}

She became an avid Girl Guide who bought her first guitar to play at Guide evening events. While studying for three years after high school, to obtain a diploma for teaching sculpture, she considered dedicating her life to religion in a Catholic convent. From the age of 21, between 1954 and 1959, she taught sculpture to youngsters. At scout camp in the summer of 1959 she met sixteen-year-old Annie Pécher, with whom she would develop a close relationship.Éliane Gubin (2006). "Jeanne Paule Deckers". Dictionnaire des femmes belges: XIXe et XXe siècles. Lannoo Uitgeverij. pp. 146–47. {{ISBN|978-2-87386-434-7}}{{cite book |last= Chadwick |first=D. A. |title=The Singing Nun Story: The Life and Death of Soeur Sourire |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lUyaMwEACAAJ |year=2010|page=28 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=978-1-4537-1096-8}} She became convinced, however, that her new teaching profession did not suit her and she resigned.

In September 1959 she entered the Missionary Dominican Sisters of Our Lady of Fichermont, headquartered in the city of Waterloo, where she took the religious name Sister Luc Gabriel.{{cite web|url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,312689,00.html|title=The Singing Nun's Story|last=Purtell|first=Tim|date=18 December 1992|publisher=Entertainment Weekly|access-date=26 July 2008|archive-date=3 February 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100203162451/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,312689,00.html|url-status=dead}}{{cite book|author=Éliane Gubin|title=Dictionnaire des femmes belges: XIXe et XXe siècles|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fIPj8NRvuNAC&pg=PA146|year=2006|publisher=Lannoo Uitgeverij|isbn=978-2-87386-434-7|pages=146–47|chapter=Jeanne Paule Deckers}}

While in the convent, Sister Luc Gabriel wrote, sang, and casually performed her own songs, which were so well received by her fellow nuns and visitors that her religious superiors encouraged her to record an album, which visitors and retreatants at the convent would be able to purchase.

In 1962, the album was recorded in Brussels at Philips; in 1963 the single "Dominique" became an international hit, and her album sold nearly two million copies. Sister Luc Gabriel became an international celebrity and took the stage name of {{lang|fr|Sœur Sourire}} ('Sister Smile'). She gave several live concerts and appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show on television on 5 January 1964.{{cite book|last=Bronson|first=Fred |title=The Billboard Book of Number One Hits|publisher=Billboard Books|year=2003|page=141|isbn=0-8230-7677-6}} "Dominique" was the first song by a Belgian artist to be a number one hit single in the United States.{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/apr/28/singing-nun-jeannine-deckers |title=New film tells tragic story of Belgium's Singing Nun |work=The Guardian |date=28 April 2009}} The song's chorus "Dominique, nique, nique" caused some amusement among French listeners as the verb niquer is slang for 'have sex', with nique thus being equivalent to 'fuck(s)'; Deckers was unaware of this.{{cite book |last= Chadwick |first=D. A. |title=The Singing Nun Story: The Life and Death of Soeur Sourire |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lUyaMwEACAAJ |year=2010|page=44 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=978-1-4537-1096-8}}

Sister Luc Gabriel found it difficult, however, having to live up to her publicity as "a true girl scout," always happy and in a good mood. "I was never allowed to be depressed," she remembered in 1979. "The mother superior used to censor my songs and take out any verses I wrote when I was feeling sad."{{cite web |url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=G6RJAAAAIBAJ&pg=876,2772046&dq=jeanine+deckers&hl=en |title='Singing Nun' makes comeback |first=Margaret |last=Gordy|work=Youngstown Daily Vindicator |date= 8 February 1979|access-date=5 April 2013}}

In 1963 the General Music Company published a book of 15 Soeur Sourire songs with English lyrics provided by Noël Regney, who later claimed that he had co-written "Dominique." Later that same year she was sent by her order to take theology courses at the University of Louvain. She liked the student life, if not her courses.

Deckers did not see much money from her international fame, and her second album, Her Joys, Her Songs, received little attention and disappeared almost as soon as it was released in 1964. Most of her earnings were taken by Philips and her producer, while the rest automatically went to her religious congregation, which earned at least $100,000 in royalties.

In 1966, a biographical film loosely based on Sister Luc Gabriel was released called The Singing Nun and starring Debbie Reynolds in the central role. Sister Luc Gabriel reportedly rejected the film as "fiction".

Pulled between two worlds and increasingly in disagreement with the Catholic Church, Deckers left her convent in 1966 to pursue a life as a lay Dominican instead.{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=mAIqAAAAIBAJ&pg=7396,1397742&dq=jeanine+deckers&hl=en|title=Bits of Show Business|work=The Milwaukee Journal|date=13 October 1966|access-date=5 April 2013}}{{Dead link|date=December 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} She later reported that her departure resulted from a personality clash with her superiors, that she had been forced out of the convent and did not leave of her own free will. Convent superiors denied the other nuns contact with her as she was described as a "bad influence". After she left, however, she continued to adhere as closely as she could to the disciplines of the convent, still considering herself a nun, praying several times daily, and maintaining a simple and chaste lifestyle.{{cite web |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1985/04/02/world/belgium-s-singing-nun-is-reported-a-suicide.html |title=Belgium's Singing Nun Is Reported a Suicide |work=The New York Times|date=2 April 1985}}

When she left the convent, her record company made her give up her professional names, "Sœur Sourire" and "The Singing Nun". She attempted to continue her musical career under the name Luc Dominique. Angered by what she saw as the Catholic Church's failure to implement the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, she released a song in 1967 in support of contraception, "Glory be to God for the Golden Pill".{{cite book |first=Philip |last=Jenkins |author-link=Philip Jenkins |title=God's Continent: Christianity, Islam, and Europe's Religious Crisis |url=https://archive.org/details/godscontinentchr00jenk |url-access=registration |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-19-531395-6}} This led to a backlash from the Catholic hierarchy which saw a succession of her planned concerts cancelled.{{cite web|last=Heneghan |first=Tom |url=http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2009/04/29/sister-smile-film-tells-sad-story-of-the-singing-nun/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090504021747/http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2009/04/29/sister-smile-film-tells-sad-story-of-the-singing-nun/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 May 2009 |title="Sister Smile" film tells sad story of the Singing Nun |publisher=Blogs.reuters.com |date=29 April 2009 |access-date=18 August 2015}} In 1968, Deckers turned to publishing, writing a book of inspirational verse, but that, too, failed to gain an audience.

Deckers went on to release an album titled I Am Not a Star in Heaven{{cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0812123/otherworks|title=Soeur Sourire|website=IMDb|access-date=14 March 2019}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/news/celebrity-deaths/article/jeanine-deckers-the-singing-nun|title=Legacy, Celebrity deaths|website=Legacy.com|date=29 March 2011|access-date=9 June 2018}} and developed a repertoire of religious songs and songs for children.{{citation needed|date=December 2014}} Despite her renewed emphasis on music, Deckers' career failed to prosper. She blamed the album's failure on not being able to use the names by which she had become known, saying that "nobody knew who it was." When a second single, "Sister Smile Is Dead", also failed, Deckers turned to teaching disabled youngsters in Wavre, Brabant, eventually opening her own school for autistic children. She eventually suffered a nervous breakdown, which was followed by two years of psychotherapy.

In 1973, Deckers became involved with the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. Cardinal Leo Suenens requested that she write songs for the movement, and this led to a brief but successful return to the stage, including a visit to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she sang before several thousand people. Under the name "Sister Smile", she released another album in 1979, which she described as containing "honest, religious songs" commenting that the album would help listeners to "know who I really am."{{cite web |url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Cr4yAAAAIBAJ&pg=7188,933166&dq=jeanine+deckers&hl=en |title= 'Singing Nun' returns |work=Ottawa Citizen|date= 8 February 1979 |access-date=5 April 2013}}

In the late 1970s, the Ministry of Finance of Belgium said that she owed $63,000 in back taxes. Deckers countered that the royalties from her recording were given to her convent and therefore she was not liable for payment of any personal income tax. She then called on her former convent and her former record label, Philips. The sisters gave her what they considered to be her share (which enabled her to acquire an apartment in Wavre) on condition that she stop denigrating the congregation and sign a document stating that all accounts were balanced, but Philips, which had received 95% of the revenue, did nothing.

Deckers ran into heavy financial problems. In 1982, she tried, once again as Sœur Sourire, to score a hit with a disco synthesizer version of "Dominique",{{cite web|url=http://www.45cat.com/record/00648684|title=Soeur Sourire – Dominique (1982)|access-date=16 March 2019|via=www.45cat.com}} but this last attempt to resume her singing career failed. In addition to the other financial worries, the autism centre for children started by Deckers and Pécher had to close its doors for financial reasons in 1982. After this, Deckers tried to make a living by giving lessons in music and religion.

Deckers reconnected with Annie Pécher, whom she had known while at the University of Louvain. They developed a strong relationship, and shared an apartment until their deaths.Stephanie Mansfield, "The Singing Nun" in The Washington Post, 6 April 1978.

Frustrated by rumours that the relationship was sexual, Deckers wrote:

People at my record company think that two women who live together must be lesbians. They assert even that nuns in convents are in love. I deny these rumors as I testify against every creepy spirit. The answer is still obvious that I am not homosexual. I am loyal and faithful to Annie, but that is a whole other love in the Lord. Anyone who cannot understand this can go to the devil!{{cite book |last=Dominique |first=Luc |url=https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb33083674c |title=Vivre sa vérité |publisher=Desclée |year=1968 |location=Paris}}

Biographer Catherine Sauvat asserts that despite this denial, Deckers did go on subsequently to have a sexual relationship with Pécher, though only after several years of life together.Sauvat, Catherine (2009). Soeur Sourire (in French). France Loisirs, 2009, p. 104.

File:Belgique 02.2009 Soeur Sourire (4).JPG, Brabant, Belgium]]

Deckers and Pécher died by suicide, taking overdoses of barbiturates and alcohol on 29 March 1985.{{cite web |url=http://www.gaylive.be/specbericht.php?artid=709&catid=&title=Interview:%20Leen%20Van%20Den%20Berg%20over%20Soeur%20Sourire:%20Zie%20me%20graag. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141201114954/http://www.gaylive.be/specbericht.php?artid=709&catid=&title=Interview:%20Leen%20Van%20Den%20Berg%20over%20Soeur%20Sourire:%20Zie%20me%20graag. |archive-date=1 December 2014 |title=Interview: Leen Van Den Berg over Soeur Sourire: Zie me graag |trans-title=Interview: Leen Van Den Berg on Soeur Sourire: Love me |work=Gaylive.Be }}{{Cite book |title=Sœur Sourire: Journal d'une tragedie | first=Leen |last=Van Den Berg |publisher=Editions Luc Pire |year=2005 |isbn=2-87415-483-0 |page=209 }} In their suicide note, they referenced their financial problems. They also wrote that they had not lost their faith and wanted a joint burial, according to the rites of the Catholic Church.{{cite news |url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=YWgaAAAAIBAJ&pg=5204,618343&dq=jeanine+deckers&hl=en |title= 'Singing Nun' takes her own life at 52 |work= The Milwaukee Journal |date= 2 April 1985 |access-date= 5 April 2013 }}{{Dead link|date=December 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} They were buried together on 4 April 1985 in Chérémont Cemetery in Wavre, Brabant, the town where they died.Wilson, Scott. Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Locations 43607-43608). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition. The inscription on their tombstone reads, "J'ai vu voler son âme / À travers les nuages" (English: "I saw her soul fly through the clouds"), a line taken from her 1966 song "Luc Dominique".{{cite book |last= Chadwick |first=D. A. |title=The Singing Nun Story: The Life and Death of Soeur Sourire |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lUyaMwEACAAJ |year=2010|page=75 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=978-1-4537-1096-8}}

{{lang|fr|Soeur Sourire.}} {{lang|nl|Zie me graag}} (Sister Smile. Love me) is a 2005 biographical novel by Luc Maddelein and {{ill|Leen van den Berg|nl}}, inspired by Deckers' personal diaries and correspondence.{{cite web |title=Soeur Sourire. Zie me graag |url=http://leenvandenberg.be/alle%20werk/soeur%20sourire.html |publisher=leenvandenberg.be }} It contains excerpts from the diaries. It was translated into French as {{lang|fr|Soeur Sourire. Journal d'une tragédie.}} (Sister Smile. Diary of a Tragedy).{{cite book | title=Soeur Sourire. Journal d'une tragédie |id={{ASIN|2507002522|country=uk}} }}

In 1996, The Tragic and Horrible Life of the Singing Nun premiered Off-Broadway at the Grove Street Playhouse. The play, which was written and directed by Blair Fell, was loosely based on events in Deckers' life. The production featured several musical numbers and followed the life of the title character, renamed Jeanine Fou, from her entry into the convent until her death with Pécher. The New York Times review stated the play "milks much of its comic mileage from the incongruous, and willfully tasteless, pairing of its holy setting and its trashy, Jacqueline Susann-style dialogue ... In dressing up despair in barbed frivolity, Mr. Fell provides his own skewed equivalent of tragic catharsis."{{cite news

| url = http://theater2.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=9F05E6D61139F935A25757C0A960958260

| title = The Tragic and Horrible Life of the Singing Nun

| work = The New York Times

| format = Registration required

}} The Catholic League spoke out publicly against the production.{{cite web

|url = http://www.catholicleague.org/annualreport.php?year=1996&id=22

|title = The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights

|year = 1996

|publisher = catholicleague.org

|access-date = 26 July 2008

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081021010901/http://www.catholicleague.org/annualreport.php?year=1996&id=22

|archive-date = 21 October 2008

}}

In 2006, a musical version of Fell's play was staged during the New York Musical Theatre Festival, produced by George DeMarco and David Gerard, both of whom produced the 1996 production. Laura Daniel played Jeanine and received the NYMF Award for Outstanding Individual Performance. The musical featured music and lyrics by Andy Monroe and a book by Fell (who also contributed additional lyrics); it was directed by Michael Schiralli.{{cite web

|url=http://www.broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=12621

|title=Photo Coverage: NYMF's 'Singing Nun'

|last=Strothmann

|first=Ben

|date=3 October 2006

|publisher=broadwayworld.com

|access-date=26 July 2008}}

The Singing Nun is a 1966 American semi-biographical film, directed by Henry Koster and with a screenplay by John Furia and Sally Benson. Based loosely on Deckers' life to that point in time, it stars Debbie Reynolds in the title role and also features Greer Garson, Ricardo Montalbán, Agnes Moorehead, Katharine Ross, Chad Everett, and Ed Sullivan as himself.{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/19641|title=AFI-Catalog|website=catalog.afi.com|access-date=27 February 2019}}

In 2009, Sœur Sourire, a Franco-Belgian biopic, directed by Stijn Coninx and starring Belgian actress Cécile de France as Deckers, was released.{{cite web |url= http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10641837 |title=Uncovering a sister act with a rocking habit |first= Peter |last=Calder |work=NZ Herald News |date=1 May 2010 |access-date=5 April 2013}}{{cite web|url=https://myprivacy.persgroep.net/?siteKey=atXMVFeyFP1Ki09i&callbackUrl=https://www.7sur7.be/7s7/privacy/callback.do?redirectUri=/7s7/fr/1528/Cinema/article/detail/405192/2008/09/04/Le-film-quot-Soeur-Sourire-quot-en-tournage-a-Liege.dhtml|title=Le film "Soeur Sourire" en tournage à Liège|website=www.7sur7.be|access-date=27 February 2019|language=fr}}{{cite web|url=https://www.sbs.com.au/topics/sexuality/article/2016/04/08/sad-song-belgiums-singing-lesbian-nun|title=The sad song of Belgium's singing lesbian nun|website=Topics|access-date=14 March 2019}} The film won the Magritte Award for Best Costume Design.{{cite web|url=https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/195962/|title=Van Dormael sweeps up at Magritte Awards|website=Cineuropa – the best of european cinema|date=7 February 2011 |access-date=27 February 2019|language=fr}}

• The Singing Nun (1963, Philips PCC 203){{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-singing-nun-mw0000602915|title = The Singing Nun – Soeur Sourire | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic|website = AllMusic}}
• Her Joys, Her Songs (1964, Philips, PCC 209){{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7IQ_Q3C0ILIC&dq=The+Singing+Nun+%22Her+Joy,+Her+Songs%22&pg=PA237|isbn = 978-0-8020-3935-4|title = Visual Habits: Nuns, Feminism, and American Postwar Popular Culture|date = January 2005|publisher = University of Toronto Press}}
• I Am Not a Star in Heaven
• Chansons d'enfants (2014)

Compilations

• Best of Sœur Sourire (2003)
• Sœur Sourire, Volumes 1, 2 and 3 (2009)
• Sœur Sourire Sings – The Masterpieces (2021)

{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

• {{cite book |first1=Luc |last1=Maddelein |first2=Leen |last2=van den Berg |title=Sœur Sourire. Zie me graag |location=Leuven |publisher=Davidsfonds |year=2005 |isbn=90-5826-330-4|language=nl}} (a novel)
• {{cite book |last= Chadwick |first=D. A. |title=The Singing Nun Story: The Life and Death of Soeur Sourire |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lUyaMwEACAAJ |year=2010|publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=978-1-4537-1096-8}}
• {{cite book |first=Catherine |last=Sauvat |title=Soeur Sourire |publisher=France Loisirs GF |url=https://www.lachouettelibrairie.com/livre/1737304-soeur-sourire-recit-biographique-catherine-sauvat-france-loisirs-gf |isbn=978-2-298-02813-3 |year=2009 |language=fr}}
• {{cite book |first=Florence |last=Delaporte |author-link=Florence Delaporte |title=Sœur Sourire: Brûlée aux feux de la rampe |year=1996 |isbn=978-2259184120 |language=fr |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/sursourirebrulee00dela }}

{{Commons category|Sœur Sourire}}

• {{IMDb name|0812123|The Singing Nun}}
• [{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p33548/biography|pure_url=yes}} The Singing Nun] at AllMusic
• {{discogs artist|Soeur Sourire|Soeur Sourire}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singing Nun, The}}

Category:1933 births

Category:1985 suicides

Category:1985 deaths

Category:People from Laeken

Category:20th-century Belgian women singers

Category:Belgian guitarists

Category:Belgian women guitarists

Category:Philips Records artists

Category:20th-century Belgian Roman Catholic nuns

Category:Burials at Cheremont Cemetery

Category:Dominican Sisters

Category:French-language singers of Belgium

Category:Belgian singer-songwriters

Category:Belgian women singer-songwriters

Category:Drug-related suicides in Belgium

Category:Barbiturates-related deaths

Category:Folk guitarists

Category:Belgian folk singers

Category:Belgian women folk singers

Category:Former Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns

Category:Joint suicides

Category:Belgian Roman Catholic writers

Category:Grammy Award winners

Category:20th-century guitarists

Category:Walloon musicians

Category:20th-century women guitarists