Daniel Lavoie: official wrbsite

Lavoie has found his way

By Joanisse Marc-André
LeDroit-1994

Artist: Daniel Lavoie
Title of disc: Here in the Heart
Year of Release: 1994

Without wanting to play on words, Daniel Lavoie has candidly admitted that he has finally found his path, after some twenty years of slogging away in show business. A new path, however, that is difficult to explain. To be defined, he explained, on his way through Ottawa for Ontario Pop.

Let us recall that Daniel Lavoie is the sponsor of the 9th song competition in French Ontario.
"It's all about an original texture. I've finally found my way and it's somewhere between 'Long Courrier' and 'Here in the Heart'. But it's not at all like what I did previously. It's new. It's me."

You can hear this new texture on Daniel Lavoie's next French album. You can hear a preview at a mini-concert that he will give on the final evening of Ontario Pop, on the 4th of June, at the CNA theatre.
But before tackling his next French album, Daniel Lavoie put the finishing touches on another album, one destined exclusively for the American market.Its release is anticipated for the end of February and has become inevitable since the events of last January.

On the 22nd of January 1993, 'Weak for Love', from the album 'Here in the Heart' was heard in the soap opera General Hospital, a programme watched by more than 15 million viewers.
The reaction was so great that the producers at the ABC network thought it wise to replay it in episodes from the 18th to the 22nd of February. "After the first hearing, people were asking: 'Who sings this song?'", recalls Daniel Lavoie. "A month later, they were calling ABC and asking if I had an album on the market."

So why not strike, while the iron is hot?
Daniel Lavoie did neither and went to Los Angeles to record his first American album.
"It's truly an American album, made for that market," he emphasised. "A genre that people won't recognise in my next French album, which is leaner, somehow."
For this album, Daniel Lavoie has retained certain songs from 'Here in the Heart', his first English album. He completed it with some new songs that he composed and with the lyrics written by Mary-Beth Derry.
And once again, luck was on his side. The producers of General Hospital listened and liked what they heard. To such an extent that some new songs from 'Woman to Man' already had a choice place in the soap opera, which has an ardent following.
"It's sure that when you slip a song, and probably one or two others, into a programme such as General Hospital, it really opens doors. But you have to continue. And above all, you need the radio stations to follow suit."

Ontario Pop
With a career that seems to want to take another turn, Daniel Lavoie will have much to tell to the eight finalists in the annual song contest, Ontario pop.
"I can't wait to see this new crop of madmen who want to launch into this profession. Me, I never wanted to be a singer. I wanted to be a composer and write songs for others."
"But it's fun," he concluded. "Extraordinary. This job makes me experience all sorts of emotions, and gives me a lot of challenges. And it always forces me to go beyond my limits."