ARMANDE ALTAI. He was one of the Star Academy figures of the 2000s, but Armande Altaï should not be part of the new Star Academy adventure on TF1. The singing teacher continued to give lessons, to stars as well as to apprentice singers.
Armande Altaï, Oscar Sisto, Raphaëlle Ricci… So many names that smell good of TV in the 2000s and that marked a cult program: Star Academy. The show is making a comeback on TF1 from Saturday October 15 but should be marked by the arrival of many new faces. Armande Altaï has an atypical look, expressions that have gone down in TV history, legendary diction exercises and a few tasty exchanges with refractory students like Jean-Pascal or the George-Alain cult. “Apparently I am a baritone. Baritone, I thought it was a fish me”, had thus debriefed Jean-Pascal at the end of one of the courses of the singer!
Will Armande Altaï be part of the jury for this new Star Ac’? Unlikely as TFA wishes to make this Star Ac’ 2.0 a new adventure, certainly tinged with a bit of vintage with portraits of ex-candidates, visits of former glories of the program to the castle but a priori not among the jury. As a reminder, Armande Altaï had provided singing lessons during the first three seasons of Star Academy, thus coaching Jenifer, Olivia Ruiz, Nolwenn Leroy, Emma Daumas or even Elodie Frégé. She returned in 2008, this time in the costume of Star Academy director won by Mickels Réa.
After the Star Academy, Armande Altaï, now 78 years old, resumed her singing lessons via her company “Les classes d’Armande Altaï” which she had founded in 2002, having among her students Nolwenn Leroy, future winner of the Star Academy 2. She also gives concerts in Parisian venues such as the New Morning. In 2020, she revealed to receive 900 euros in retirement and continue to work. “Artists, even those who work a lot, have small pensions compared to what they have earned in their lives. If I didn’t work, what would I have to live on?” she told Femme Actuelle in 2021.