les Rita Mitsouko

We just learned with sadness that Fred Chichin, half of the french group "Les Rita Mitsouko" passed away today after a 2 months fight against cancer. They should have played tonight at the Olympia in Paris. Catherine Ringer and Fred Chichin met in the late 70's and decided in 1979 to create the group. Rita was chosen because of its south american sound and Mitsouko because it means mystery in japanese. The group had to add the article "les" before "Rita Mitsouko" because everybody thought it was the name of the singer. Fred Chichin composed music and played guitars, bass, drums and keyboards. The first album, out in 1984, has the hit single "Marcia Baila", latino-rock song which pays tribute to the argentinian dancer Marcia Moretto, also dead by cancer. The song was sold at more than 1 million copies and was the first hit single of a long list. The music of the group was a mix of many influences such as rock, funk, ska, south-america and a big sense of humour. From them we never heard any rumour. The group recorded 11 studio albums.