Daniel Lavoie and Louise:
The new millenium will be about love

April 2000- Femme Plus magazine
By Anne-Marie Cloutier

Daniel Lavoie and Louise Dubuc

It's only the second time that they've been photographed together. A quasi exclusivity for our enjoyment. To represent desire, real desire, lasting desire, could a more dazzling couple, more radiant representatives be found ? But when asked about their first encounter, the first glance which decided everything, the second which changed the course of both their lives, they oppose an eloquent silence, reinforced by a long knowing look. "Our beginnings? They belong to us." Louise ends up saying. You don’t need a Ph.D in journalism to see that these two have a tight-knit intimacy. Guaranteed impervious to the curiosity of the media.

Nevertheless, they talk freely about what’s happened after the "big-bang". Married for 12 years, both of them are great nature lovers, "for it's silence" says the singer. They enjoy happy days on their farm in the countryside, near the US border, with Gabrielle, 15, Louise’s daughter, who has been mad about horse-riding since she was 9, and Joseph, 10, "the son they’ve had together" who can sing in the car for two hours non-stop. His mother thinks he has a "very beautiful voice". Mathieu, 27, Daniel Lavoie’s son, studies at the Polytechnic ("he could soon be my referee when I need a new passport !") and who is a flamenco specialist. He doesn't live with them but stays in close contact.

The studio which keeps the singer busy, sometimes from 6 am to 10 pm, is on two floors and is bathed in greenery. Daniel Lavoie is a hard working man, happy to get up to go and work. His head is full of projects. "Mind you, he isn’t a workaholic!" hints Louise "He's a great worker but he knows when to stop." When he does, he turns to weeding, digging, hoeing, pruning, sowing, harvesting, propagating, in a word: gardening. It's his second passion and Louise is rather pleased about it. "Gardening keeps him at home", she says smiling. "It's better than golf, " he adds "I'm not a tiresome husband at all !".

As for Louise Dubuc, Loulou to her friends, although she is not in the public eye, she is far from being a stranger to show business. As Daniel Lavoie’s producer and publisher, she also works with him on the texts of his songs. She is an integral part of all the stages of his career and of his life. Normally, Louise would have attended the photo session discreetly, making sure that her man was photographed from the best angle, in the same efficient way as she scrolls through important dates in his diary, with photographic memory. Moreover, even if she says she is not talkative, she still speaks more than he does and seems to be more spontaneous. She often checks in mid-sentence, wary about saying to much or to little. He joins in from time to time, gently changing what she’s said and, to speed things up, cracks one of his crazy and charming jokes, but then holds back, just when you would have given a lot to hear more.

A small to medium-siz ed family business.

In short, a happy couple without any problems, in spite of a life clearly more hectic than the average. "We are sufficiently alike to understand each other and sufficiently different to complement each other." summarises Louise. "Our most frequent clashes are about our conflicting attitudes to the children. As I was brought up in a tolerant fashion, I have a tendency to be stricter. And Daniel, who had a strict upbringing, is much more permissive."

At the moment, everything is great. The couple is going through an idyllic period, much welcome after a long time in the wilderness, financially speaking of course. Is it necessary to come back to "the business problem" widely covered by the press at the time? The closure of the recording company Lavoie had founded with an associate, the split from the aforementioned partner, and, above all, the spectacular personal bankruptcy which followed. That was a little over 5 years ago.
Daniel Lavoie obstinately reacted to these worries and disappointments by working, multiplying projects, film sound tracks, albums for children (Les Bébé Dragon 1 & 2) producing albums for other singers etc, right up to the symbolic victory last October and the release of four double-boxed sets on a new label Smatt/GSI, after recovering and remastering the master tapes which had been "frozen" in the vaults of EMI, France. They’ve won the war. End of the matter.

Indirectly, this hard blow also had good repercussions. "When Daniel found himself on his own, says Louise, he needed someone to look after his business immediately. As he's often away, I began to take charge of certain things. Gradually, we became a small family firm, managed from home…"
"We realized, " adds Daniel, "that all the couples who stay together in spite of show business, worked together. I'm thinking of Robert Charlesbois and Laurence, Richard Cocciante and Catherine, Luce Dufault and Jean-Marie. Too often, in our circle, the wife of a star is seen as nothing more than a trophy wife . In our case, nobody wonders what Louise is doing with me. She's my publisher and producer! She speaks on equal terms with everyone."

It sometimes lead to amusing misunderstandings. "In France, says Louise, I would introduce myself as Louise Dubuc, his press-attaché, and ask for the same hotel room. It was very funny. Daniel was cheating on me with his wife!"
Louise, with a BA in Communication, loves writing and words. When he is writing a song and can't find a line, his wife's inspiration takes over. He produces the lyrics, she corrects them. It's an on-going collaboration. Certain songs are definitely written together. "Then, from one line to another, I came to the conclusion that Loulou's name had to appear on the album with mine."

Do they retain a bitter taste from their difficulties of earlier years? "Not at all, we don't brood over it. I assure you, I've completely forgotten all about it! " Maintains Daniel Lavoie, "I don't hold anything against anyone.", "As for me " replies Louise, "I've always taken one day at a time. And we enjoy all the more what is happening to us now. We’ve paid the price and now it’s like heaven, she laughs, even if, sometimes, it happens very, very quickly …"

To Notre Dame, thanks for favours granted.

“Heaven ” is Notre Dame de Paris. The "winning lottery ticket ", the thrilling adventure which still enthralls them, as it did on the opening night, at the Palais de Congrès in Paris. "We could feel the public getting higher, higher, higher … It was fabulous." When Daniel Lavoie speaks about it, he’s still choking with emotions.

In September 1998, the Lavoie family, Daniel, Louise, Gabrielle and Joseph came to Paris for five or six months. "I had requested that our flat should be in the 17th arrondissement, near the Palais des Congrès, where Notre Dame was staged. I wanted to be able to get there on foot and I knew that, if the children wanted to come and meet me, they wouldn't have to take a taxi." Louise adds "On Saturday evenings Gabrielle would go out with her friends and then she would meet with Daniel after the show. She had her stage pass (they say "le passe" in France) and they’d come home together. On Saturday afternoons, it was Joseph's turn." According to his father, Joseph became a real "theatre mouse", as at ease in the corridors as a captain on the gangways of his ship. He would hide in the restaurant, on the third basement floor which was reserved for show team . Joseph’s second passion was the Arc de Triomphe, Louise remembers that on Saturday evenings, she and her son would walk up the Champs-Elysées just as the monument lit up. "He was fascinated by the inscriptions which he used to try to decipher. We would buy roasted chestnuts, sit and watch the Arch."

A happy period then, but different for each of them. The children took to Paris like a charm, and they both cried on leaving. Louise recalls those six months with warmth, her only regret being that daily chores, the children’s homework and such like prevented her from discovering more about Paris. As for Daniel … it’s pure enthusiasm. That's not to say that he spent his time playing the tourist. Every evening he was Frollo, the priest who’s driven to death with lust for the beautiful Esmeralda. And, unwittingly, the singer developed what is known as "athlete’s diaphragm". When you sing so much, stomach muscles develop and give you a bit of a paunch. "All the "boys" (in Paris, the singers from Quebec were called the "boys") developed this "belly", laughs Louise, " except perhaps for Luck (Mervil)."

After the show, Frollo would wolf down supper with the cast and go home at 1 am. Between ourselves, what better time to work! "In fact, I used the time-lag, I always felt very awake after the show and put that time to good use composing songs, working until 3 or 4 in the morning, then going to bed until midday in Paris, that’s 6 am in Quebec, which is when I normally get up . It was so silent at night, perfect for working…"

As we meet, he is about to leave again for a month's tour in France. Louise will try and join him as often as possible. In April, it will be the big departure for … Paris, where the cast of Notre Dame will rehearse the London show, due to run from June to August, with a possible extension to September. Not to mention the release of his album in Quebec next Autumn. "London, that's bound to be very different. It will be Summer, the holidays…"

But just now, they’re throwing themselves on to the last pieces of cheese left on a the board. Cheese is a common passion. With mischief in his eyes, Daniel Lavoie claims he’s even planted some in his garden… "It's a very rare cheese plant from Russia; let me tell you : it's very, very good." We’re running out of time, they’re going to the théâtre Saint-Denis, to see the new production of Notre Dame de Paris. "It will be the first time I see the show, when you’re on stage, you cannot see the whole scene because of the lighting effects.
I turn off my recording. They immediately relax. As if by magic, they start speaking without restraint, confiding more. What a pity it’s all off record…