In 1981, when Vanessa was eight years old, she appeared as a contestant on the European television program L'Ecole des Fans (The School of Fans). A sort of cult TV hit, the show featured very young children doing what were often very bad renditions of well-known songs. She brought mom, dad, and uncle Didier, who had used his connection (he knew the piano player) to get his niece on the show. She sang a song from Emilie Jolie, a famous French musical by Philippe Chatel, who was that night's ...