Daniel Lavoie

Daniel Lavoie at a concert during the FrancoFolies de Montréal (August 2008)

Daniel Lavoie (born March 17, 1949 in Dunrea , Manitoba ) is a French-Canadian singer-songwriter , pianist and actor .

Beginnings

Lavoie learned to play the piano as a child at a Jesuit school, enjoyed singing and writing songs at an early age; At the age of 18 (1967) he won a radio station competition in the composer and performer category. He sang his lyrics (and sings) in French and English, and after playing with two small Christian pop bands, he performed alone for the first time in 1970 in the province of Québec , where he then settled down and played in clubs and cafes. His first two long-playing records ( À Court Terme 1973 and Berceuse Pour un Lion 1974) remained relatively unnoticed; only the single J'ai Quitté Mon Île became a respectable success, if not in his home country, but in France and - under the title Deixei miha terra - in Brazil and Portugal.

successes

Daniel Lavoie first became known to a large audience inside and outside Canada with his third LP Nirvana Bleu (1979), from which the chansons Angéline , La Danse du Smatte and Boule qui Roule were played very often on the radio. The album, which he had also recorded in English, not only earned him good reviews, it also sold well and led to a three-week engagement at the Petit Montparnasse in Paris . In Canada he was awarded the Félix for best male performer of the year in 1980.
In 1981 two new LPs were released, Craving in English and Aigre-doux, How are You? in French, but this was not a commercial success. Nevertheless, he received the Félix again this year and, in addition to Canada, also gave several concerts in France, Belgium and Switzerland. At the end of 1983 he had his big breakthrough with the LP Tension , in which he had invested 15 months of work and a considerable amount of money, which sold almost 250,000 times in Canada alone and for which he received three awards in 1984: for the one with Daniel DeShaime composed the song Tension Attention , for the third time as singer of the year and as best singer-songwriter. The release Ils s'aiment (recorded in four languages) sold around two million copies worldwide, was awarded the Midem d'Or in Cannes in 1985 and, in addition to another Félix (this time as the most important French-speaking musician of the year), also brought him a week-long Appearance at the Paris Olympia , which he repeated in 1987.

Lavoie won other Félix trophies and other awards almost every year, including the Médaille Jacques-Blanchet (1986), released a new successful album with Vue sur la Mer (1987) and was invited by Liza Minnelli to her television special LIZA in 1988 , where he performed two of his new titles in English. In addition, he was socially committed in a variety of ways: in September of this year he performed together with Michel Rivard , Sting , Peter Gabriel and Bruce Springsteen at a benefit concert for Amnesty International's "Human Rights Now" campaign in the Montreal Olympic Stadium , became spokesman for the Association for French-speaking Education in Canada and supported a foundation for research into adolescent diabetes .

Style and further development

Musically Daniel Lavoie is in the tradition of French chanson , but also of Anglo-American country music , whereby these two styles enter into a very unique mix in his songs and are often enriched by elements of modern jazz . At many of his concerts the artist has performed without a band, only accompanying his singing with his piano playing. His texts are mostly of a poetic nature and with their linguistic images, associations and hints leave the listener room for their own interpretation.
His own taste in music is also complex: His personal favorites include Dream Woman ( Waylon Jennings ), Money for Nothing ( Dire Straits ), Sad Eyed Lady ( Bob Dylan ), Dimanche à Orly ( Gilbert Bécaud ), Babylon Sisters ( Steely Dan ) and Kind of Blue ( Miles Davis ).

His album Long Courrier (on which Le Pape du Rap and Jours de Plaine , among others ) became Pop-Rock-LP of the year in Canada in 1990; In 1991, Daniel Lavoie first played a leading role in the film Le Fabuleux Voyage de l'Ange by Jean-Pierre Lefèbvre , for which he also wrote the soundtrack. In the rock opera Sand et les Romantiques , which was performed one after the other in Canada and France in 1992/93, he slipped into the role of the painter Eugène Delacroix and even gave a brief guest appearance on the TV Schmonzette General Hospital . Thanks to two English-language LPs ( Here in the Heart and Woman to Man , released in 1992 and 1994), his Anglo-American fan base also grew.

In 1996 and 1997, the father of three, who grew up with five siblings, released two LPs with children's songs ( Le Bébé Dragon 1 and 2), for which he again won a Félix, this time in the children's records division. In the following two years he lived partly in Paris, where he appeared in the role of Dom Frollo alongside Bruno Pelletier and Luck Mervil in the musical drama Notre-Dame de Paris , which in 2000 also appeared in English for four months London was performed. In 1998/99 the soundtrack of this musical was for a total of 17 weeks and the single Belle , sung by Lavoie together with Garou and Patrick Fiori , was number one in the French charts for 18 weeks , as was the Walloon-Belgian Ultratop 50 for six weeks . In addition, he continued to compose, among others for three cartoons ( Ludovic ) by Co Haedeman , but also chansons for Mireille Mathieu , Nana Mouskouri and Roch Voisine , and was seen in other film and stage roles: as Romanian exile Johnny in Claude Fournier's Das Buch Eva - Ticket to Paradise (2002), as a pilot in a musical version of Saint-Exupéry's Le Petit Prince (2002/03) and finally in the leading role in the TV series about the poet Félix Leclerc , which was broadcast in 2004. Another album was released that year, titled Comédies Humaines . In keeping with his role, he released his 19th album Moi, mon Félix the following year .

At the beginning of 2007 the LP Docteur Tendresse came out in Canada and France; At the same time, Daniel Lavoie performed at another benefit concert against poverty in old age ( Vivre vieux, vivre mieux ). In 2011 his album J'écoute la Radio was released . In the same year Lavoie published his first literary work, titled Finutilité ; it includes previously unpublished lyrics. In the summer of 2013, Laurent Guardo and Lavoie began working together on the La licorne captive project . Guardo used medieval instruments to accompany his texts, which were often about fairy tales or legends. After the album was released in March 2014, Lavoie went on tour. He is also working with Bruno Pelletier on Jean-Michael Grégoire's first album this year . Like Lavoie, he is also under contract with Paul Lévesque.

Daniel Lavoie, who has been married to Louise Dubuc for the second time since 1988, now lives on a farm near Montreal when he is not on concert tours or stage rehearsals .

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)	Remarks
year	title	FR	Remarks
2004	Comédies humaines	FR67 (5 weeks) FR

More albums

1975: À court terme
1976: Berceuse pour un lion
1979: Nirvana Bleu
1981: Cravings
1981: Aigre doux, how are you?
1983: Tension Attention
1984: 10 over 10 (compilation)
1986: Vue sur mer
1986: Tips
1987: Olympia
1990: Long courrier
1991: Douce heure (compilation)
1992: Here in the heart
1994: Woman to man
1995: Ici
1996: Bébé dragon 1
1997: Live au Divan Vert (compilation)
1997: Bébé dragon 2
2005: Moi, mon Félix
2007: Docteur Tendresse
2011: J'écoute la radio
2014: La licorne captive
2016: Mes longs voyages

Singles (selection)

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
year	Title album	FR	BE ^W	Remarks
1985	Ils s'aiment Ils s'aiment	FR2 gold (19 weeks)FR	-
1998	Belle Long courrier	FR1 diamond (60 weeks)FR	BE ^W1 × 3 Triple platinum (44 weeks)BE ^W	with Patrick Fiori & Garou
2002	On aura toujours rendez-vous	FR74 (7 weeks) FR	-	with Jeff