Jeanne-Paule Marie " Jeannine " Deckers (17 October 1933 – 29 March 1985), [1] better known as Sœur Sourire ("Sister Smile", often credited as The Singing Nun in English-speaking countries), was a Belgian singer-songwriter and for seven years a member of the Dominican Order in Belgium as Sister Luc-Gabrielle . She acquired widespread fame in 1963 with the release of the Belgian French song " Dominique ", which topped the US Billboard Hot 100 and other charts.

This article is about the person. For the 1966 film loosely based on her life, see The Singing Nun (film) . For the 2009 film, see Sister Smile (film)

In September 1959 she entered the Missionary Dominican Sisters of Our Lady of Fichermont , headquartered in the city of Waterloo , where she took the name Sister Luc-Gabrielle. [3]

She was born Jeanne-Paule Marie Deckers, in Laeken , Belgium, in 1933, the daughter of a pâtisserie shop owner, and was educated in a Catholic school in Brussels . She was an avid Girl Guide who bought her first guitar to play at Guide evening events. Though she was considering becoming a nun even as a young woman, she trained and then worked as a teacher. [2]

While in the convent, Deckers wrote, sang and 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.[3]

In 1961, the album was recorded in Brussels at Philips; the single "Dominique" became an international hit, and in 1962 her album sold nearly two million copies.[2] The Dominican Sister became an international celebrity, with the stage name of Sœur Sourire ("Sister Smile"). She gave concerts and appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show on 5 January 1964.[4] "Dominique" was the first, and remains the only, Belgian song to be a number one hit single in the United States.[5]

Deckers found it difficult 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", Deckers remembered in 1979. "The mother superior used to censor my songs and take out any verses I wrote when I was feeling sad."[6]

In 1963 she was sent by her order to take theology courses at the University of Louvain. She liked the student life, if not her courses. She reconnected with a friend from her youth, Annie Pécher, with whom she slowly developed a very close relationship.[2] The two subsequently shared an apartment until their deaths.[7]

Effects of fame and further musical career Edit

In 1966, Debbie Reynolds starred in The Singing Nun, a biographical film loosely based on Deckers.[2] Deckers reportedly rejected the film as "fiction".[3]

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. Most of her earnings were in fact taken away by Philips and her producer, while the rest automatically went to her religious congregation,[2] which earned at least $100,000 in royalties.[3]

Pulled between two worlds and increasingly in disagreement with the Catholic Church, she left the convent in 1966,[2] to pursue a life as a lay Dominican of the order.[8] 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. She still considered herself a nun, praying several times daily, and maintaining a simple and chaste lifestyle.[6]

After leaving the convent, her record company required her to give up her initial professional names of "Sœur Sourire" and "The Singing Nun".[6] She attempted to continue her musical career under the name "Luc Dominique"[2] and pursued social work.[3]

Increasingly frustrated at what she perceived to be the Catholic Church's failure to fully implement the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, she released a song in 1967, defending the use of contraception, called "Glory be to God for the Golden Pill".[9] This led to an intervention by the Catholic hierarchy in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, which resulted in one of her concerts being cancelled.[10]

Deckers released an album entitled I Am Not a Star in Heaven.[11] Her repertoire consisted of religious songs and songs for children.[citation needed] Despite her renewed musical emphasis, Deckers' career failed to prosper. She blamed the failure of the album on not being able to use the names by which she had become known, saying that "nobody knew who it was". She also struggled to reconcile her faith with her sexuality.[12] She eventually suffered a nervous breakdown followed by two years of psychotherapy.[6]