First names in song: Emmanuelle, star first name of the 70s

“Emmanuelle, like the sun, Emmanuelle, always more beautiful”. With his Claude François haircut and his devastating smile, François Valéry earns his stripes as a popular singer on this title, “Emmanuelle”. The title came to him while he was leaving for lunch with his mother. “At my mother’s house, there were always guitars. I remember picking up the guitar and making the first chords of the verse. It was festive!”he testifies.

“Emmanuelle”, erotic film with nine million entries

For the chorus, the choice of the first name Emmanuelle was not chosen at random. At the time, France was in the midst of “Emmanuellemania” with the release of the first mainstream erotic film. “Emmanuelle” will have nine million admissions. The title song of this film will allow Pierre Bachelet, then unknown, to achieve notoriety. “Emmanuelle, at the time, it was 79, the film had been out for four or five years and it was still fresh. The thing came about like that because Emmanuelle was one of the sensual girls, it was a guarantee of sensuality”explains François Valéry.

Two years later, it was Renaud who immortalized “Manu”, the diminutive of Emmanuel but in the masculine form. In this song he splits the armor and speaks of heartbreak. “Renaud’s name is Renaud Pierre Manuel Seychan, this song is about him”, explains Baptiste Vignol, author of “Renaud, mots d’enfer”. “Manu” entered the Pantheon of Renaud’s most beautiful songs.