Dorothée

French singer and actress Dorothée continues to hold a special place in the hearts of Generation Xers, who still celebrate the children's albums she cut from the early through the middle of the 1980s. Born Frédérique Hoschédé on July 14, 1953, in Paris, she drew the notice of television presenter Jacqueline Joubert while performing with an amateur theater group. Joubert installed her in 1973 as host of the youth program Mercredis de la Jeunesse, where she performed under the stage name Dorothée and played the comic straight woman to the puppet Blabatus. Her appeal to young viewers proved so strong that in 1975 she took over Les Visiteurs du Mercredi, and two years later she headlined her own program, first called Dorothée et Ses Amis and then retitled Récré A2 in 1978.

Although she kept taking adult parts, among them a role alongside François Truffaut in his 1979 feature L'Amour en Fuite, her biggest impact remained in children's programming. A 1981 contract with AB Productions led to a run of family-oriented singles such as "Tchou Tchou le Petit Train," "Rox et Rouky," "Hou! La Menteuse," and "Les Schroumpfs." Between 1982 and 1986 alone she issued 16 albums that moved more than 17 million copies. In 1987 she also began hosting the variety series Le Club Dorothée, which mixed sketches and songs with animated segments that included Japanese anime titles. The inclusion of those cartoons later sparked public debate over their violent content, prompting the TF1 network to cancel the program permanently in 1997.

After the cancellation Dorothée withdrew from the spotlight and has stayed out of it for more than a decade. Her loyal following has nevertheless continued to expand through DVD reissues, archival television specials, and greatest-hits compilations.