“My sister died in my arms and when she died, I wanted to have her image with me forever,” confides Daniel Renaud, the brother of the late singer Mélanie Renaud who had his idol’s face tattooed.
This is the cover photo of the album Fireworks of his sister, Mélanie Renaud, which Daniel Renaud chose as his first (and probably only) tattoo.
For the 50-year-old, this superb portrait of his little sister engraved in his flesh for the rest of his life is a source of pride. It must be said that Daniel was very close to his artist sister who fought incurable ovarian cancer for many years and who died on May 14, 2024 at the age of 42.
“Mélanie is special. She impressed me in every way, especially with her presence on stage. People didn’t know who she really was. She was much more than the song I blame myself. She was an accomplished artist who deserves to be discovered,” he says.
Of the three sessions, totaling a good 9 hours of work for artist François Michaud of Tank Tattoo, it was the first ones that were the most emotional for him.
“I didn’t tell anyone. My mother really hates tattoos, but when I showed her mine, she started crying,” he says.
“I find it perfect. I talk to her every day. She looks at me and her gaze is quite intense,” adds the man who was 7 years old when Mélanie arrived from Haiti with her sister Lucie to join the family.
Mélanie was 9 months old at the time and her biological sister was one year old.
photo provided by Daniel Renaud
Heritage and sobriety
He explains that Mélanie left him a beautiful legacy. The desire, in particular, to continue his life path in sobriety.
“She had stopped using drugs for 4 years and I had stopped for 13 years. She came to the fraternities because she saw that I was getting better. She made lots of friends there, lovely people who came to see her until the end. We even had a meeting at the palliative care. That’s what she wanted,” explains the father of a three-year-old girl, who is the singer’s goddaughter.
“She knows she’s made it to heaven,” he said.
Big Brother Highlights Little Sister’s Strength in Writing Great Song Walking on a tightrope when she was sick and knew she was going to die.
“We saw him suffer so much, it’s better this way,” he concluded in one breath.
