1981
New – less fruitful – collaboration with Michel Lang for the original soundtrack of the film “On n’est pas des anges...elles non plus” and an on screen appearance alongside Johnny in a film by Claude Mulot “Le jour se lève et les conneries commencent”.
1982
Another summer tour. RMC Podium for 45 days with Roland Magdane up first. For the writing of the album “LUMIERES D’AMOUR”, Mort calls on new writers: Laurence Matalon, Patrick Larue, Christian Eclimont and Françoise Dammien.
He works with Loïc Le Guen and Claude Lemesle for several months on a new musical “MA VILLE”. This project is a song about love for Paris. Like De Lutèce, in the between wars style; Mort wants to tell the story of Paris by expressing his attachment to this city and his happiness at living there.
1983
Release of the album taken from the musical story of “Ma Ville”. Nicoletta and Philippe Lavil participate in the recording. Le Guen and Mort wear themselves out lobbying at the Paris Town Hall, which assures them of its support. The show was never to be put on and the record did not meet with public success. Mort experiences this failure with frustration and deep disappointment.
1984
Mort and Doc meet in Nashville to accept a BMI Award for Dolly Parton’s Top 5 Country hit of ‘Save The Last Dance For Me’. They hadn’t met for years. Back in New York they met again and they go out together to the Lone Star. They started writing together but the song was never completed and Doc and Mort never saw each other again.
1985
A new solo record “PHARAON”. France Inter and Europe 1 support the title track and the B side of the promo single “Le Blues (Appelez ça comme vous voulez)”. But fashion had changed, “free radio” exploded on the FM frequency. Not quite rock and not exactly song, the disconcerting way that tracks move between violence and melancholy with a sensuality and instinctive sweetness, puzzles the novice programmers of the new radio stations.
Yves Mourousi has the Egyptian rooms at the Louvre museum opened up at night to televised News teams for the filming of the pop-video for “Pharaon”. The same Mourousi accepts the writing and singing on “Ça va...” a huge disco single produced and realised by Mort at the Palais des Congrès. For this record, Shuman brings in keyboards, choirs and the rhythms.
1986
A new project stimulates Mort and keeps him in France: a film. The director Claude Bernard Auber offers him the film script with a provisional title “La Jonque”. He would have to co-star with Lino Ventura. But putting together a film is a complicated business in that a good script and a key star do not necessarily arouse the interest of producers. Discussions drag on and stall. Lino Ventura disappears. The film is never made. Goodbye to the Hong Kong exteriors. The Shuman family set up in London. From then on Mort works hard on musicals and music for television productions.
1988
BUDGIE – THE MUSICAL – Mort’s first West End Stage production- opened on 18 October at Cambridge Theatre. Mort wrote the music, Don Black, the lyrics and Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall the Book. Based on the 70’s hit TV series, the show starred Adam Faith and Anita Dobson.
