Laure Pester (born May 2, 1982), more commonly known as simply Lorie, is a French pop singer. In the space of just three years and three albums, Lorie has earned gold medal status in the pop rink. Her lightning rise to fame began after her first single, Près de moi, was released on Peoplesound.com, a free online distributor of unpublished music. Her success with internet fans led to Lorie scoring a lucrative record deal with Sony. Following the success of Près de Toi in 2001, Tendrement in 2002 and the live recording special Live Tour, the clean-living blonde Lolita continues her reign as queen of the French school playground. Her newest album, Attitudes, which was released in 2004, sold a staggering 300.000 copies within the first two weeks of its release. Lorie is often referred to as the ‘Britney Spears’ of France.