Editing Amanda Lear (section)

==Early life==
Lear's origins are unclear, with the singer providing different information about her background and keeping her birth year a secret from her long-term husband [[Alain-Philippe Malagnac d'Argens de Villèle|Alain-Philippe]].<ref name="www.telegraph.co.uk">{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4721185/Why-would-I-want-to-kill-my-husband.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4721185/Why-would-I-want-to-kill-my-husband.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Why would I want to kill my husband? |first=Christa |last=D'Souza |date=23 January 2001 |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |access-date=16 March 2013}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Contested facts include her birth date and place, the gender she was [[sex assignment|assigned at birth]], names and nationalities of her parents and the location of her upbringing. Most sources claim 18 June 1939,<ref name="IMDb">{{cite news|publisher=IMDb|title=Amanda Lear|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0495166/}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|website=Rotten Tomatoes|title=Amanda Lear|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/amanda_lear}}</ref> including [[Bibliothèque nationale de France]]<ref>{{cite news|url=http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb13896436c/|work=BnF : Bibliothèque nationale de France – catalogue général|title=Lear, Amanda (1939-....) pseudonyme forme internationale|number=Notice n° : FRBNF13896436|date=22 March 2007}}</ref> or 18 November 1939 to be her birth date, including [[GEMA (German organization)|GEMA]]. Her birth year, though, has variously been given as 1941,<ref name="www.guardian.co.uk"/> 1946<ref name="skug">{{cite web |url=https://skug.at/amanda-lear-in-every-dreamhome-a-heartache/ |title=Amanda Lear - In Every Dreamhome A Heartache |first=Didi |last=Neidhart |date=24 February 2002 |website=Skug.at |language=de |access-date=16 July 2018}}</ref> and 1950. During a 2010 interview with French newspaper ''[[Libération]]'', Lear presented her identity card to the journalist, which read: "born 18 November 1950 in Saigon".<ref name="drole">{{cite news |last=Dahan |first=Eric |date=16 August 2010 |title=Drôle de dame |trans-title=Funny lady |url=https://next.liberation.fr/culture/2010/08/16/drole-de-dame_672204 |url-status=live |language=fr |newspaper=[[Libération]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231223141024/https://www.liberation.fr/culture/2010/08/16/drole-de-dame_672204/ |archive-date=23 December 2023 |access-date=23 December 2023}}</ref> Georges Claude Guilbert claims, "Most biographers believe she was born in 1939, whatever she might declare to the contrary."<ref name="Guilbert"/>

As for her birthplace, Saigon and British Hong Kong seemed to be the most credible,<ref name="www.telegraph.co.uk"/> but Lear claimed origins in Singapore, Switzerland and even Transylvania. According to her book ''My Life with Dalí,'' she was the only child of her parents, who later divorced.{{sfnp|Lear|1985|p=10}} Most sources, including Lear's 1965 wedding certificate from the [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]] registry office,<ref name="Gibson">{{cite book |last=Gibson |first=Ian |author-link=Ian Gibson (author) |title=The Shameful Life of Salvador Dalí |year=1998 |publisher=[[W.W. Norton & Company]] |location=New York City |isbn=0-393-04624-9 |chapter=14: Amanda Lear and Other Extravagances |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/shamefullifeofsa00gibs }}</ref> confirm that her father was a French army officer and that her surname at that time was Tap.<ref name="FamilySearch">{{cite book|title=General Register Office for England and Wales|date=1837–2005|page=1452|volume=5A|version=4|location=Chelsea, London, General Register Office, Southport, England|url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV63-JZFS}} {{Blockquote|text=Name: Amanda Tap; Event Type: Marriage Registration; Event Place: Chelsea, London, England; Registration District: Chelsea; County: London; Registration Year: 1965; Registration Quarter: Oct-Nov-Dec; Page: 1452; Affiliate Line Number: 167; Volume: 5A; Spouse Name (available after 1911): Lear; Possible Spouse: Morgan P Lear.}}</ref><ref name="freebmd">{{Cite web|url=https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=6biOgip%2BincvuzoSod1VpQ&scan=1|title=Index entry|date=December 1965|access-date=2 March 2020|work=FreeBMD|publisher=ONS}} ANC-05/1965M4-L-0513.jpg For the original file : click on the icon "View the original" {{Blockquote|text=Tap, Amanda Lear Chelsea 5A 1452.}}</ref><ref name="Gibson"/><ref name="Carla Antonelli 2003"/><ref>{{cite book|first1=Duncan|last1=Fallowell|author-link1=Duncan Fallowell|first2=April|last2=Ashley|author-link2=April Ashley|title=April Ashley's Odyssey|location=London, UK|publisher=[[Jonathan Cape]]|year=1982|lccn=82145047|oclc=9491739|url=http://www.antijen.org/Aprilv1/|isbn=0224018493|access-date=16 October 2019|archive-date=18 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191118004812/http://www.antijen.org/Aprilv1/|url-status=dead}}</ref> According to the [[French Republic]], her birth surname was Tapp.<ref name="culture.gouv.fr">{{cite web |url=http://www2.culture.gouv.fr/culture/artsetlettres/juillet2006.html |title=Nominations dans l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres de juillet 2006 |website=[[Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication]] |language=fr |access-date=6 June 2010}}</ref><ref name="Vabres">{{Cite book|date=24 July 2006|author=[[Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres]]|publisher=[[French Republic]]|location=[[Ministry of Culture (France)]]|title=Arrêté portant promotion ou nomination dans l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres|url=http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/artsetlettres/juillet2006.html|access-date=2 March 2020}} {{Blockquote|text=Mme Amanda Tapp dite Amanda Lear, chanteuse, animatrice, artiste-peintre}}</ref> In a 1976 interview with [[Carmen Thomas]] for a German television show, Lear stated that her father was British, her mother was Russian and that they both had died.<ref name="3nach9">{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0rqZ90rTjI  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/f0rqZ90rTjI| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|title=Amanda Lear - Interview "3nach9" (29 May 1976) |author=Webtélé Amanda Lear |date=28 April 2011 |via=YouTube |language=en, de |access-date=25 August 2012}}{{cbignore}}</ref> However, Lear later stated in a 1978 interview that she had a younger brother, her mother was [[Mongols|Mongolian]] and they were both living together in a small town in the [[Pyrenees]] on the French-Spanish border.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1978-11-12 |title=" Amanda Lear - " Sono figlia di Maria " " |work=[[TV Sorrisi e Canzoni]]}}</ref> In 2021, she confirmed she was born in Saigon.<ref name="Suigo">{{cite news|language=fr|format=audio|title=Amanda Lear à contre-emploi sur les planches dans "Qu'est-il arrivé à Bette Davis et Joan Crawford" : "C'est une thérapie pour moi"|date=20 September 2021|author=Élodie Suigo|publisher=[[France Info]]|url =https://www.francetvinfo.fr/replay-radio/le-monde-d-elodie/amanda-lear-a-contre-emploi-sur-les-planches-dans-quest-il-arrive-a-bette-davis-et-joan-crawford-c-est-une-therapie-pour-moi_4761521.html}}</ref>

Lear allegedly grew up in the South of France and in Switzerland,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lyonclubbing.com/html/people/indexpeople.php3?action=afficher&no=76&annee=2002 |title=Amanda Lear réveille Lyon ! Le 17 Octobre 2002 |website=Lyon Clubbing.com |language=French |access-date=15 July 2018 |url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030414022733/http://www.lyonclubbing.com/html/people/indexpeople.php3?action=afficher&no=76&annee=2002 |archive-date=14 April 2003}}</ref> or between London and Paris,<ref name="drole"/> or in Nice.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N7hNAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Elle+est+n%C3%A9e+par+hasard+a+Hong-Kong+d%27un+%22|title=Elle est née par hasard à Hong-Kong d'un père marin et d'une mère qui, très vite divorcée, l'a élevée à Nice|website=[[Paris Match]] |language=fr |year=1987 }}</ref><ref>"Confessions Orbitales". ''[[Europe 1]]'' (in French). 8 March 2003</ref> She learned English, German, Spanish and Italian in her teens and would use multilingualism in her professional life. The academic Georges Claude Guilbert claims, "Linguists observe that she has a French accent when she speaks (and sings) in English".<ref name="Guilbert"/>

''[[The Guardian]]'', on 24 December 2000, summarized the information relating to these aspects of Lear's life as follows:<ref name="www.guardian.co.uk"/>
{{Blockquote| text=Lear's background remains a mystery. She has variously let it be known that her mother was English or French or Vietnamese or Chinese, and that her father was English, Russian, French or Indonesian. She may have been born in Hanoi in 1939, or Hong Kong in either 1941 or 1946. Once she said she was from [[Transylvania]]. And to this day, it is a matter of conjecture as to whether she was born a boy or a girl.}}