Those nostalgic for the 80s and 90s and Dorothée’s shows will be very sad when they learn of the disappearance of Emmanuelle Mottaz, known only by her first name which appeared in yellow letters on her records: Emmanuelle. The artist, singer, screenwriter, producer and photographer died on March 16 at the age of 59. She was famous for being the interpreter of First Kiss, title produced by AB Productions, Dorothée’s record label and producer of TF1 programs and series for children and teenagers. Best-selling French song at Christmas 1986, number 2 in the Top 50, First Kiss competes with The Final Countdown of the European group. The piece, slow sixties celebrating summer loves, also marked the viewers by becoming the credits of the series First Kissesbroadcast daily on TF1 in the 90s.
Ambiguous and sulphurous
In the mid-1980s, she attracted the attention of producer Jean-Luc Azoulay by regularly attending Dorothée’s concerts. She releases a first 45 rpm, I’m calling you from Macau, title signed Jean-François Porry (alias Azoulay himself) and Gérard Salesses, authors of most of the house songs. His second disc, in 1986, will be the one of success: with First KissEmmanuelle, with big curly brown hair, became a romantic singer and performed in numerous concerts and podiums, sharing the stage with young talents like Maurane, Julie Pietri or Mylène Farmer.
“I am upset, said Release Jean-Luc Azoulay. She was an endearing, brilliant personality, and above all a true artist. After a second album carried by the song Just you to put me to sleep (number 3 in sales in June 1987), Emmanuelle is more involved in the production of her records: co-author of several of her songs, she creates an atmosphere that is both ambiguous and gently sulfurous which clashes with the sugary productions linked to the Club Dorothee. In 1990, she sang in wooden doll : “If you imagine / That your fine mouth / Your mischievous lips / Make me libertine / Since the origin / My sweet blonde / Your masculine grace / Stir my canines.” Another text, which appeared on his first disc, evokes love for a woman: “Too bad if you’re not a boy / I’ll love you in my own way / We don’t control feelings / With civil status, Mum”. His latest albums do not renew the success of First Kiss but appear abroad, notably in Japan, Taiwan and China.
beauty of youth
“One day she felt she had done the trick,” remembers Jean-Luc Azoulay. After a final single in 1993 and a few production initiatives with the Stiger Records label (a subsidiary of AB Productions which markets one of Arielle Dombasle’s first records, symphonic love), Emmanuelle Mottaz left the stage and became a screenwriter forHelen and the boys, a series followed by several million viewers on TF1. “Emmanuelle was a jack-of-all-trades, she was a real friend for the comedians of the series“recalls his former producer.
At the end of the Dorothée years, she developed several artistic projects, between image, poetry and video on social networks, including Thriller adolescent, an ephemeral work on the beauty of youth and androgynous bodies. In a message shared on Twitter, Dorothée, modest, says to herself “very saddened” of the disappearance of this artist whom she had taken under her wing and received dozens of times in her broadcasts.