Unlike some of her cutesy, teeny-bopping '60s peers, Barbara's nimble chanson was suffused with a deep and very real sadness. As a child born to Jewish parents in Paris, she went into hiding during WWII, during which she was abused by her father. With the war over, she escaped to Brussels and a community of like-minded musicians who helped channel her experiences into song. And thank goodness they did: The often muted piano music, combined with her bold, complex vocal melodies, is utterly hypnotic and almost psychedelic—and despite her troubled upbringing, seldom short on love.