Dalila's difficulty in finding acting work throughout 1955 led her to try singing. Vidal introduced her to Roland Berger, a friend and professor who agreed to give her singing lessons 7 days per week at a low price. He was very strict and used to yell, with Dalila responding even more loudly. Their lessons sometimes ended with her slamming the door but she always returned the next day. Seeing her progress, Berger arranged for her to perform in the famous cabaret "Le Drap d'Or" on Champs-Élysées, where she was spotted by Jacques Paoli, the director of another famous cabaret "La Villa d'Este". Paoli engaged her for a series of performances that proved popular, and Dalila received her first attention of public in France among which was Bruno Coquatrix, the director of Olympia, who specially invited her to perform at his singing contest "Les Numéros 1 de demain". In future years, Coquatrix said: "er voice is full of colour and volume, and has all that men love: gentleness, sensuality and eroticism." Dalila was also spotted by author and screenwriter Alfred Marchand, who advised to change her name to Dalida: "Your pseudonym resembles too much of the movie Samson and Dalila and it won't help to boost your popularity. Why don't you replace the second 'l' with a 'd', like God the father?" She immediately accepted the change.