Daniel Lavoie : the official website

"My Two Sons"

7 jours magazine, 1994
Ginette Gauthier

D.Lavoie's two sons: Joseph (5) and Mathieu (19)

After having enjoyed his salmon steak with side salad, Daniel Lavoie was good and ready to say what was good in his life at present. He has to say that, interludes like this in a little restaurant, are few and far between this summer. He's working without a break but he's not fed up with that, far from it.

GG: Les Fancofolies de La Rochelle, the International Jazz Festival in Montréal, working on two albums … no holiday for the famous!
DL: But I'm always on holiday! My work is one continuous holiday. (laughs) Seriously though, it is true that I work very hard during the festival season but I'm going to allow myself one week of rest after the Francofolies in La Rochelle, France. Perhaps I'll go to Spain.

GG: Is it the first time that you've had such a jam-packed summer?
DL: No. I've known several others. Amongst them, I think of the time when my album Tension Attention came out. I had such a terrific reception from the public who wanted me everywhere. However, when I'm at home in the countryside, I've the pleasant feeling of being in a chalet. It turns me into a gardener. I love that!

GG: You are working on two albums simultaneously. How many albums have you made?
DL: I think these will be my 11th and 12th albums, one in French, the other in English. The first one will see daylight this Autumn. Then the second, there is still no date for it. It's the one which came out in the USA last Spring, Woman to Man, it's still gong well over there.

GG: Is the title song of this album the one which you performed in General Hospital, the American soap watched by 20 million people?
DL: Yes, Weak for Love. I've heard a lot of talk about it. This special involvement gave me the chance to break into the American market. It went well, just as in France, I consider myself fortunate to be able to move about in two different cultures and to sing in the two languages.

GG: It's a round trip from one continent to another, in the long run isn't that exhausting?
DL: I'm a very good tourist! (laughs) Joking apart. I look at the people and things, I walk and I mingle with the crowd. I've the ability to detach myself from work and to relax at the drop of a hat.

GG: How do you manage to balance family life with work?
DL: It's not easy but, more and more, I'm getting there. I have to make choices. Between two tours I have some free time back home with my family. It would be an exaggeration to say I've got the perfect balance but I truly think that everything in my life is well-matched.

GG: What age are your children?
DL: Mathieu's 19, Joseph's 5. I've also got a step-daughter of 10 who is called Gabrielle.

GG: There's a 14 year age gap between your sons. Have you approached the role of Father in the same way with Joseph as with Mathieu?
DL: I hope not! Had I said yes that would indicate that I had learnt nothing or that I knew everything right from the start. Hell, no! At the time that Mathieu was little I was in my headstrong twenties and I had all the ambitions which went with that, in short, I was not around much for him. I've changed, I've quietened down and I've adjusted to certain things so well that, today, I find I'm telling the truth when I say that all is well with me and mine.

GG: What sort of Father are you?
DL: Not too strict, but at the same time one has to show a certain personal discipline towards the very young. I like to talk with my sons, I also like playing with Joseph. He's a little fellow who talks a lot and who already voices his opinions. He is also very sensitive.

GG: What amazes you most about him?
DL: The way he makes his comments astonishes and amuses me a lot.

GG: Does your eldest child play a musical instrument?
DL: He plays on the drums and dreams of becoming a drummer. He composes tunes with his mates. I've heard them a few times. They've got talent.

GG: What do you share with him?
DL: Communication is very good between us. At times, some conversations become impossible. I try to share my bit of experience with him but, at that age, the young listen with only half an ear to what their Father says. I give him good weapons from the outset in order that he can manage his life. And he is succeeding. He's as headstrong as I was at 20.

GG: Amongst these weapons, which is the most useful in life and which the most invaluable?
DL: Faith in life. When a child firmly believes that happiness exists, real happiness and not just bright lights and loud noise, there will always be a place where he feels secure, he will not become an adult with no hope. His faith and memories will sustain him.

GG: The memory, among others, of having had a lovely childhood?
DL: Precisely. We must give our children a good childhood. For myself, I'm always saying that I had a wonderful childhood, I was privileged. Besides, it's that which propped me up whenever the bad times appeared. This joie de vivre is always with me … even if I'm writing sad songs.

GG: That must be difficult!
DL: Not at all. I'm fond of sadness, the sadness of a tango, the dignified sadness of partings and great sorrows…

GG: It demands an enormous self-discipline to accomplish all the little tasks. Was that innate or have you acquired it?
DL: I went to school at a Jesuit College (laughs). Perhaps I forgot some discipline after that time but it quickly comes back to me, if need be, in my career. It's not always easy but I do it. It's the only way of doing things if you want to succeed in something.

GG: Do you sometimes like to be on your own?
DL: Not so much. Those moments, in themselves quite brief, when I'm flying along in my car or I'm on a plane are quite enough for me for a bit of introspection.

GG: These days, what is important to you?
DL: The joint firsts are my family and my career, that's obvious. Then, to keep well for as long as possible, it's like appetite, it eventually goes! Also, for a long time, I've enjoyed getting up in the mornings. It's a charmed life which I have.

GG: Do you feel better than ever about your complexion?
DL: The wrinkles and white hairs are on the increase, but it's not a problem! (laughs) It doesn't worry me. I feel more and more comfortable with myself.

GG: Life's been good to you. It's written all over you!
DL: That's true, life's been good as much as I can make it. I take one day at a time. I always leave a door ajar for those little daily happinesses to come in. If I make forward plans they are always a bit hazy, that's to say it's so that I can think about them again or, likewise, to postpone them to coincide with what I'm thinking of setting up.

GG: Have you a dream?
DL: Yes, to build a solarium to force tomatoes in Winter (laughs).

GG: Apart from gardening, do you have a hobby, an interest which the public don't know about?
DL: Do you think that in 375 interviews with journalists that there can be anything the public doesn't know? (laughs) Oh yes! The first thing which I do each morning is to peruse the sporting pages in the newspapers. I read everything about hockey, football, baseball and soccer etc. It's my silly little hobby, I swear it. I know all the players and all the tittle-tattle without every having been to a pitch or a stadium!

GG: What question would you like met to ask you?
DL: Anyone! If my answers allow your readers to know me better. For myself, I'm beginning to learn about journalists by the questions they ask!