Jeanine Deckers, aka The Singing Nun, committed suicide due to financial troubles at a children’s institution they supervised. Find out more about her.
In 1963, the Belgian-French song “Dominique” topped the Billboard Hot 100 and other charts in the United States, Jeanine Deckers became a household name.
She and Annie Pécher committed suicide by overdosing on barbiturates and alcohol on March 29, 1985, citing financial concerns. They stated in their suicide letter that they had not abandoned their faith and that they desired to be buried following the Catholic Church’s burial rites.
What Happened To “The Singing Nun” Who Sang Dominique? Death Cause Revealed
Jeanine Deckers, the guitar-playing “Singing Nun,” who gained worldwide popularity with her song “Dominique” more than 20 years ago, committed suicide with a friend over the weekend at the home they shared, according to the source. The former nun had been a nun for 52 years.
According to Belga, a police officer indicated that friends who had not heard from the two women had notified the police today. The remains were discovered by police, who claimed the two died from a heavy quantity of sedatives. The buddy of Miss Deckers was not named in the agency’s report.
According to the police officer, the women had left a letter explaining their suicide and requesting privacy. According to the newspaper, friends stated the two had been despondent for some time, partially due to financial troubles at a children’s institution they owned.
Miss Deckers entered the Dominican convent at Fichermont, near Brussels, in 1959 and departed in 1966.
She was pressed to make a record because of her high, lovely voice. “Dominique,” her first single, was an instant hit worldwide in 1963. There have been over 100 distinct versions of the song, including an electronic version she recorded in 1983.
Everything To Know About The Singing Nun Family
Jeanne-Paule Marie Deckers was born in Laeken, Brussels, Belgium, in 1933, the daughter of a pâtisserie store owner, and received her education at a Catholic school in Brussels.
Her mother thought of her as a “tomboy,” so she was overjoyed when she decided to join the all-girl Guides Catholiques de Belgique. She had a suspicion that she would become a nun when she was fifteen years old.
She became an enthusiastic Girl Guide and purchased her first guitar to perform at Guide evening events. She considered dedicating her life to religion in a Catholic convent while studying for three years after high school to acquire a diploma in teaching sculpting.
She taught sculpture to children between 1954 and 1959 when she was 21 years old. In the summer of 1959, she met Annie Pécher, a sixteen-year-old girl with whom she would form a close bond.
She eventually realized that her new teaching job was not for her, and she resigned. She joined the Missionary Dominican Sisters of Our Lady of Fichermont, based in Waterloo, in September 1959 and was given the religious name “Sister Luc Gabriel.”
The Singing Nun Net Worth At Death
Jeanine Decker’s late husband, founder Pierre Dick, left her a 49.7 percent share in a veterinarian-health company; therefore, she is worth around $1.1 billion.
Since her husband’s death, she has been involved with the company and now supervises its corporate foundation. Pierre, a veterinarian by trade, started a modest lab in Nice, France, in 1968 to create medicines for other veterinarians. By 1987, the Virbac organization had expanded internationally and into the United States.
Deckers’ international reputation did not bring her much money, and her second album, Her Joys, Her Songs, gained little notice and was forgotten nearly as soon as it was published in 1964. Philips and her producer took the most of her money, while the rest went to her religious community, which received at least $100,000 in royalties.