Roch Voisine
Roch Voisine's Early Years (1986-1990)
Roch Voisine’s musical career began in the summer of 1986 when he sang before a crowd of 50,000 at La Ronde in Montreal on Canada Day. Subsequently, after many featured appearances on television, he hosted in 1988 Top Jeunesse, a television program which brought him considerable public attention. The following year he played Danny Ross, a leading role, in the popular TV series Lance et compte.
In June 1989 he released his first album, Hélène, which soon became a hit in Quebec and took France by storm a few months later. In the autumn he embarked on his first tour of Quebec, playing before 130,000 people in 50 cities. Just three weeks after Hélène appeared in France that September, it landed in first place on the Top 50 chart, remaining there for nine consecutive weeks. Roch Voisine’s success was rapid and dazzling. Three million albums were sold, and Hélène took first place prizes in Quebec, France, Belgium, Switzerland and Norway. Its success was capped in 1990 by the prize for best French Album at the Victoires de la Musique awards in France. Roch launched his first tour of France, and in the autumn of 1990 released a new album, Double, half of which is sung in English.
"ROCHMANIA" (1991-1992)
In March 1991, Roch undertook his second European tour, with 38 concerts in the biggest venues played before 250,000 fans. Madness overtook Bercy in Paris, with more than 30,000 spectators rushing the doors of the Palais des Sports on two evenings. The following year, in January 1992, he became the youngest artist ever to receive the French government’s honorary title of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. On 6 February 1992, a concert before more than 15,000 fans in Bercy acted as springboard for his Europe Tour, which included more than 60 sold-out performances in France, Belgium and Holland. The high point of the tour was a concert on 17 April in Paris, given before 75,000 spectators on the Champs de Mars. The show was broadcast live by France’s TF1 television channel, estimated to have reached an audience of 14 million viewers. A few weeks later Roch gave a sold-out concert in Montreal.
In July 1992, Roch participated in Canada’s 125th anniversary celebrations, attended by Queen Elizabeth II. He performed a new song, I’ll Always Be There, on which he collaborated with the celebrated Canadian producer, David Foster. For this event, Foster accompanied Roch on the piano. In October of that year, the double album Europe Tour was released simultaneously in Europe and Canada — his third album but first live recording. The tour’s energy and high emotion are captured on this album, which includes 22 songs — all of them hits — and one new prize-winning work, La Légende Oochigeas.
CROWNING ACHIEVEMENTS (1993-1997)
Early in 1993, Roch Voisine learned that he had been included in the collection of celebrities at Paris’s Musée Grévin, his life-size wax figure rubbing shoulders with Madonna and Patricia Kaas. Throughout the year he traveled between the United States and Canada preparing with great care his first entirely English album. By October 1993 it was ready, and I’ll Always Be There, fruit of his collaboration with David Foster, was released in Europe and Canada . The album sold more than a million copies.
It was following the launching of this album, during a tour begun in October 1993 which continued till spring 1995, that Roch decided to record a new French CD. Between concerts, he traveled between Paris, Montreal, Nashville and New York to produce Coup de tête, which appeared in September 1994. In November that year he signed a contract with BMG International. This contract envisaged the production of four albums for the international market, allowing him exceptional artistic freedom.
When the tour ended in Canada in May 1995, Roch returned to the United States, settling in Los Angeles where he gave himself fully to his creative passion. He wrote more than 50 songs and went into pre-production for his new English album, Kissing Rain. He devoted the whole of 1996 to this project, surrounding himself with the cream of California musicians (including guest artists like singer Richard Marx). The album was released in late November 1996. In 1997 Roch set out on a new tour to promote the CD, having just been elevated to Officer of the Order of Canada.
CHAQUE FEU… (1998-1999)
At the end of the Kissing Rain tour, in December 1997, Roch returned to Los Angeles to recharge his batteries. He began work on the lyrics and music for his next French album. With the support of a new team (Érick Benzi, Gildas Arzel and Jacques Veneruso), Roch spent 18 months on pre-production and the recording, in France, of Chaque feu…, his first French album in five years. The CD, consisting of 14 entirely new songs, will be released in Canada on April 21, 1999, in France on May 4.
