§ Roster ● 7 artists · as of 06/2026
Some are gone, some still record, one is ninety and still picks up the phone. Write to licensing@picafunk.com for licensing, and to post@picafunk.com for everything else.
№ 01
Sacha Distel
French singer and jazz guitarist. The song was 'La belle vie'; the world called it 'The Good Life'. (PICA001)
Paris (1933 — 2004)
№ 02
Brigitte Bardot
The actress's musical career, often in collaboration with Gainsbourg, ran almost as long as her film career. Two records on Pica Funk. (PICA002, PICA007)
Saint-Tropez / Paris (b. 1934)
№ 03
Pink Martini
A 'little orchestra' founded by pianist Thomas M. Lauderdale. China Forbes on principal vocals. Multilingual to the point of stubbornness. (PICA003)
Portland, Oregon
№ 04
Jill Barber
Canadian singer-songwriter. Her 2013 album 'Chansons' is what we keep returning to. (PICA004)
Vancouver / Hamilton, Ontario
№ 05
Yves Montand
Italian-born French singer and actor. 'Sous le ciel de Paris' is the take that defined the song. (PICA005)
Monsummano Terme / Paris (1921 — 1991)
№ 06
Coralie Clément
French singer. Younger sister of Benjamin Biolay, who has produced most of her records. (PICA006)
Villefranche-sur-Saône / Paris
№ 07
Henri Salvador
French Guianese singer, guitarist, and comedian. Got his last great record in at age 83. (PICA008)
Cayenne / Paris (1917 — 2008)↓ Extended portraits
№ 01 / Paris (1933 — 2004)
Distel began as a jazz guitarist around Henri Salvador and Bobby Jaspar in the late 1950s before easing into the role of crooner that defined his second act. 'La belle vie' (1962) — his own melody, French lyric by Jean Broussolle — was an immediate hit at home and a slow-burning standard abroad. He kept performing into the early 2000s.
On Pica Funk Records
№ 02 / Saint-Tropez / Paris (b. 1934)
Bardot's recordings — many of them written or arranged by Gainsbourg, Vannier, and Bourgeois — are part of the same Saint-Tropez summer that produced her films. 'La madrague' (1963) is the postcard version; 'Bubble Gum' (1994) is what came back thirty years later.
№ 03 / Portland, Oregon
Lauderdale convened Pink Martini in 1994 to play political fundraisers. The repertoire — sung in roughly twenty-five languages over the course of a dozen records — ranges from Lebanese standards to mid-century Cuban dance music to the songs the founders write themselves. 'Sympathique' (1997) was the first record.
On Pica Funk Records
№ 04 / Vancouver / Hamilton, Ontario
Barber grew up in Port Credit, Ontario, in a musical family (her brother is Matthew Barber). 'Chansons' (2013) is an album of French-language standards recorded with Drew Jurecka and arranged by Tim Bovaconti — Sidney Bechet, Édith Piaf, and Charles Trenet, sung from a Canadian English speaker's distance.
On Pica Funk Records
№ 05 / Monsummano Terme / Paris (1921 — 1991)
Born Ivo Livi in Tuscany, brought to Marseille as a child, discovered by Édith Piaf in 1944. Montand's screen work and his concert career ran in parallel for almost five decades; the 1951 reading of 'Sous le ciel de Paris' for the Julien Duvivier film is the version every subsequent recording argues with.
On Pica Funk Records
№ 06 / Villefranche-sur-Saône / Paris
Clément's debut, 'Salle des pas perdus' (2001), was produced and largely written by her brother Benjamin Biolay. The songs are short, the arrangements are quiet, and the records keep getting better. 'L'ombre et la lumière' is the one that travels.
On Pica Funk Records
№ 07 / Cayenne / Paris (1917 — 2008)
Salvador's career covered everything from Boris Vian-era rock-and-roll parodies to Brazilian-influenced ballads to children's records. The 2000 album 'Chambre avec vue', co-written largely with Keren Ann and Benjamin Biolay, sold three million copies and gave him a late farewell tour. 'Jardin d'hiver' is the song that did it.
On Pica Funk Records