Nina Morato

Early career

Morato recorded several singles under the names Stéphanie and Stéphanie de Malakoff before the release in 1993 of "Maman", her first single under the name Nina Morato. This was followed by an album Je suis la mieux, which was a critical success and won Morato the 1994 Victoires de la Musique prize in the category 'Best New Female Pop Artist of the Year'. Je suis la mieux featured guitarist Matthieu Chedid, who toured with Morato.

Eurovision Song Contest

In 1994, Morato's song "Je suis un vrai garçon" ("I'm a Real Boy") was chosen as the French entry for the 39th Eurovision Song Contest, held on 30 April in Dublin. Controversy arose over the lyric "Je sais je suis son amour, mais putain, y'a des jours où c'est lourd", roughly translated as "I know I'm his love, but fuck it, there are days which are hard". Concerns were expressed that this contravened Eurovision rules on verbal obscenities, but in the end the line was allowed to stand.

"Je suis un vrai garçon" was a daring and risky song for Eurovision at the time, but had the fortune to be drawn to be performed last of the 25 participating entries. Morato, in a memorable all black outfit – including leotard, jacket, velvet top hat and high-heeled thigh boots – was joined on stage by Chedid, and delivered a confident performance, which resulted in a seventh-place finish.

Later career

In 1994, Morato appeared in the film La séparation, with Isabelle Huppert and Daniel Auteuil. Her second album, L'allumeuse, was released in 1996, but was less successful. It was followed in 1999 by the darker Moderato, heavily influenced by a personal tragedy in Morato's life with the death of her baby daughter. Contributors to Moderato included Arthur H and Lokua Kanza and it was widely seen as Morato's best work.

Morato has spent recent years touring and appearing in stage productions such as The Vagina Monologues.

Discography

Albums