The Singing Nun The Singing Nun Jeanne-Paule Marie "Jeannine" Deckers (17 October 1933 – 29 March 1985), better known as Sœur Sourire ("Sister Smile", often credited as The Singing Nun in English-speaking countries), was a Belgian singer-songwriter and initially a member of the Dominican Order in Belgium as Sister Luc-Gabrielle. She acquired world fame in 1963 with the release of the French-language song "Dominique", which topped the US Billboard Hot 100 and other charts. She was born Jeanne Paule Deckers in Laeken in 1933, the daughter of a pâtisserie shop owner, and was educated in a Catholic school in Brussels. She was a
The Singing Nun 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. After leaving the convent, her record company required her to give up her initial professional names of "Sœur Sourire" and "The Singing Nun". She attempted to continue her musical career under the name "Luc Dominique" and pursued social work. Increasingly frustrated at what she perceived to be the Catholic's Church failure to fully implement the reforms of