Nina Morato

Nina Morato
Birth name	Stéphanie Morato
Born	2 March 1966 (1966-03-02) (age 45)
Origin	Paris, France
Genres	Pop
Occupations	Singer
Website	Nina Morato

Nina Morato (born Stéphanie Morato, 2 March 1966, Paris) is a French singer-songwriter, best known for her participation in the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest.

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'.^[1] 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.^[2]

"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.^[3]

Later career

In 1994, Morato appeared in the film La séparation, with Isabelle Huppert and Daniel Auteuil.^[4] 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.^[1]

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

Discography

Albums

• 1993: Je suis la mieux
• 1996: L'allumeuse
• 1999: Moderato

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Biography at RFI
2. ^ "Je suis un vrai garçon" at diggiloo.net
3. ^ ESC History – 1994
4. ^ La séparation at imdb.com

External links

• Website on Nina Morato (non official)
• Nina Morato sur IMDb

Preceded by Patrick Fiori with Mama Corsica

France in the Eurovision Song Contest 1994

Succeeded by Nathalie Santamaria with Il me donne rendez-vous

Persondata
Name	Morato, Nina
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Date of birth	2 March 1966
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