Every day from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Adrien Mangano surfs the radio waves. A time slot, let’s say, very enriching made in sun: Between the Leisure Agenda, the Postcard of towns and villages, Safety Advice, the Cicada Story, and especially Cooking with Christian Plumail from 10:07 to 10:30, France Bleu Azur has crafted a program that will make you have a pleasant summer.
Stories to discover, music to relax, mmm it smells like vacation. You can even play to win prizes… maybe a first time for you? Speaking of first times, I almost forgot one of the highlights of this summer on France Bleu Azur: “The First Time of Stars”. It’s true that we all have a first time that marked us in our lives. At the microphone of Adrien Mangano, a plethora of stars like Hรฉlรจne Sรฉgara, Eros Ramazzotti, Patrick Bruel, Laurent Voulzy, Nolwenn Leroy, Vรฉronique Genest, or even Bรฉnabar… reveal their first time. An exercise we invite you to do after this article.
To know more about the summer saga of France Bleu Azur, we invite you to discover the behind-the-scenes of “The First Time of Stars” made by Adrien Mangano.
Nice-Premium: For this summer, “Star de la cรดte” has made way for a daily just as star-studded, right?
Adrien Mangano: Let’s say we’re offering a small variation on this segment, the goal being to gather stars’ confessions on a very specific theme: “the important firsts of their life”.
N-P: Tell us a bit about the concept of this segment?
A.M.: In each of our lives, there are key moments that help us learn to know ourselves better and recognize the people around us. The first times are the most unsettling, those that set us on the path of life, the first step of what we’ll later call experience. These are the formative moments celebrities share with us. It’s also a way to surprise them and steer away from the traditional interview, which often revolves too much around the promotion of a film, album, play… When we say “tell us a first time”, it requires reflection and involves diving back into the most intimate memories.
N-P: How did it originate?
A.M.: The idea came about somewhat by chance when, at the end of an interview with Roland Magdane, we broached the subject of parents, the environment in which he grew up… We were a few days away from Mother’s Day and the comedian mentioned, with great emotion, the moment his mother came to see him on stage for the first time. The story was so beautiful, so touching and personal that I wanted to recreate this unique moment with other artists. For over two years, I then ended all my interviews with “tell me an important first in your life” while trying to guide the artists, suggesting some examples because the exercise is not easy. Try it around you, you’ll see (first car, first apartment, or first autograph…). After a few months, I had gathered some delightful revelations.
N-P: What are the first times that come up most often?
A.M.: Naturally, the first time mom or dad, then the first car, first steps on stage, first meeting with the audience. However, very few artists let themselves go to the first love, except Titoff. He was 15 when he experienced the big thrill, she was 18, he went through with it, naked yes but without taking off his cap! (In a burst of coquetry, he wanted to hide a wound he’d gotten on his face).
N-P: And an unusual first time?
A.M.: An unusual first time?… That of Patrick Bruel, the first time and certainly the last time a marine mammal tells him he’s going to become a dad. I sense you want explanations!? In fact, his wife Amanda Sthers had taken up the habit of swimming with dolphins, but that day, she called Patrick because she couldn’t understand their reaction as they weren’t approaching or playing with her. The singer had come across an article that talked about the dolphins’ sonar, a sense that allows them to detect movements, to see by sound, a sort of natural ultrasound in sum. He exclaimed, “honey, in my opinion, you should see a doctor, I think you’re preparing something for us!!!” Beautiful anecdote, isn’t it? Since then, Amanda Sthers made this story a book “My Spot in the Picture” and Patrick Bruel a song “Our Most Beautiful Face”.
N-P: Besides the segment “First Times,” you give us a second “star” appointment, “La Riviera,” at 06:20 and 17:45.
A.M.: Yes, “The Riviera of Stars” which tells a moment of the unique history of the Cรดte d’Azur. From the birth of the Monte Carlo Casino, to the famous Madrague of St Tropez, passing through the Promenade des Anglais, or the mythical Croisette of Cannes, the fate of stars is intimately linked to this saga. It’s a historical and human approach with musicians, writers, athletes, actors, singers who have ties and memories on the Cรดte d’Azur: Charles Aznavour, Liane Foly, Michelle Mercier, Patrick Sebastien, or David Ginola…
N-P: Beautiful canvases on the airwaves.
A.M.: I think indeed, these encounters allow the listener to grasp this sentimental alchemy between a celebrity and a place, by sharing moments of intimacy at the heart of “their Riviera”.
N-P: But tell us Adrien, you’re nicknamed “the stars’ friend,” what’s your secret to gaining their confidence?
A.M.: “The stars’ friend” is an expression I don’t identify with. I simply have good relationships with some personalities. Over the last 25 years, I’ve had the opportunity to approach many of them. Meetings and experiences have allowed me to create what is called an address book, but I think there are no secrets to establishing these connections. It’s a matter of feeling, a professional relationship that evolves and gives us the desire to keep in touch. And above all, it’s about establishing a relationship of trust, not betraying them by distorting their words, letting them also express themselves on subjects that really touch them, letting their sensitive chords vibrate by bringing them back to pleasant memories.
N-P: An artist (dead or alive) you would have liked or would like to interview?
A.M.: Jennifer Lopez, Sophia Loren, Johnny Depp, Nathalie Baye, I’m eagerly awaiting these moments. Among the deceased? I would have loved to meet Romy Schneider…
N-P: In September, will the bell of “Stars of the Coast” ring again?
A.M.: I think we will return to last year’s formula, which means one star per week accompanying us from Monday to Friday. This gives the listener more time to discover all the facets of a celebrity and more space for the artist to express themselves.
N-P: And to conclude our interview, what are the images of Adrien Mangano’s first time?
A.M.: Oh, the trap!!! Maybe the first time I sang one of my songs on television. Alongside my job as a host, I write and compose. Eric Charay, whom you know well on France Bleu Azur, was on Tele Monte Carlo at the time and was hosting the show “vive l’รฉtรฉ” where he received, among others, singers from the region. He had listened to one of my tracks “on va changer la vie” the day before and said to me “to me, it’s a hit!!! Come sing it on TV tomorrow”. I wasn’t very sure of myself but Eric had been convincing. On the day, at the hour, heart pounding and tense as a bow, I hear: “his name is Adrien Mangano, he performs a half-French, half-Italian song, a song about the hope of a better tomorrow” and there… I hear the first notes of the song and I said to myself deep down: this time you have to go for it! It’s a moment and a sensation I will never forget, it was “My” moment of glory. “My” first time.
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