Daniel Lavoie: official website

'I don't think of myself as a star'

Lundi magazine, 1994
Filipe del Pozo

Cabaret singer, singer of ballads, charmer or mysterious seducer? Daniel Lavoie, the last romantic lover, always around and yet so self-effacing, faces a come-back in his popularity with a breakthrough in the U.S.A. which is meant to be like him: discreet but true. Behind a reserved style there lurks a man full of wit and humour.

Daniel Lavoie speaks in a calm voice, as becomes the perfect gentleman-farmer he has turned himself into since he acquired a country house in Montérégie. He talks without awkwardness, always elegant enough to turn heads when he passes. “It’s true that my image is very enigmatic. I really have no idea of the way Americans see me now. For my part, I try to give the impression of a mature man who has been doing this job for a long time, who writes songs with a certain wisdom, who doesn’t preach, who doesn’t have a message to give, who says things with gentleness, but directly. It seems that they like that a lot…”

The American dream

Like all beautiful stories, Daniel Lavoie’s adventure south of the border is the result of chance, more precisely a meeting with the lyricist Mary-Beth Derry. Derry is the one who, besides having composed some marvellous ballards for him, like Weak for Love and Woman to Man, opened the doors of Hollywood to him and allowed him to make his entrance as a guest singer on the popular TV programme General Hospital, which is watched by more than 15 million viewers each weekday. “The actors of General Hospital are perhaps great stars outside of the studio, but once the work starts, they are there like everyone else to make something exact. When they met me, they weren’t fazed by the fact that I come from Canada. They liked my songs which had been playing for a long time on the show, so that’s why they had a favourable predisposition to my country and why they welcomed me with open arms. They were especially curious to get to know the singer of those songs.”

How does one approach a market like that of the U.S.A., a country which represents the dream for all artists? Must one charm them at one go?

I don’t know if I must force myself to be charming. All the same, I’ve a real horror of the phrase “singer with charm”. I prefer still the idea of seduction. Seduction is a bit like a pleasant game and a challenge, whereas charm I find sugary and false. Seduction, it’s a game of checkers, it’s an exchange at the same time. This is what interests me, it’s to introduce myself in my true light and that they should want to know me at my best.

After more than two decades of your career, as much in Quebéc as elsewhere in Canada and in France, what do you have which is new to give to the people over there?

I suppose that they consider me to be a singer of ballads now. A singer who writes gentle songs, I’ve fewer and fewer illusions, I’m not a rocker, besides my ears can’t take it any more: I’m forced to play more softly than formerly… this style goes well enough there for me, my voice is ready there and equally, I re-discover myself there.

What is it that makes you carry on singing? What do you want to tell people in your future songs?

I write songs on all sorts of things. Writing gentle songs doesn’t only limit me to interpreting ballads and love songs. I can write songs on friendship, rain and fine weather. One of my new songs speaks of death which is beautiful, a grandmother who hears her husband calling to her from the cemetery high on the hill. She says to him: Good, old man, I’m coming to see you soon. I feel that my days are coming to an end.” It's a song of great tenderness, written by my American friend, Mary Beth Derry. It’s not sad, she is only telling her life’s story.

Ready for a change.

This trend, can it bring a breath of fresh air into your career?

Perhaps, I’ve done many things since I first started. I’m ready for a change. It’s true that for 20 years I played to the young, now my public is not as young as before. But it’s surprising to see the number of young people who like what I do a lot, even if I don’t go chasing after Roch Voisine’s fans. In every way, it’s not serious. I do what I do, as well as I can.

Nevertheless, alongside Diane Dufresne, Celine Dion and Roch Voisine, you’re one of the only real stars who are respected and admired here?

No! I don’t think of myself as a star. If there’s one thing which I’m not, it’s surely a star. I’m a recognised singer, happy to live well with that, even if … it took me years to do it here. I realise that I’ve acquired the reflexes of well-known people. I’ve the habit of getting somewhere, then not introducing myself, for example. It’s not conceitedness, it’s just because people recognise me for themselves. I pointed that out to my wife recently. I realise I have the mannerisms of a public personality, it’s so much a part of my life that I don’t think about it any longer. I find that fun, that’s to say it doesn’t disturb me any longer. I feel easy with myself.

A united and happy family.

How does your family cope with this new stage in your career which leads you to make long stays in Los Angeles?

I’ve arranged to be at home two weeks out of the four and, when I’m there, I’m really there. I feel greatly involved in all the daily household activities. It’s the only way for my family to keep in touch throughout my absences. We work very hard to remain a united and happy family.

You have a little son and another at the cusp of his twenties who has his own music group. Can we hope to see, one day, a father and son duo? You singing and he on the drums?

Why not! I don’t see any problem. On the other hand, I don’t know if my music interests him. He’s very much into speed metal, death metal. I listened to him practising several days ago, it’s such rapid music. When will there be the first Olympic Games in that type of music? Because the people who devote themselves to it must be great athletes! It astonishes me that our tastes can coincide but one never knows. I like jazz and classical music a lot. Then, between these types of music and discovering a certain taste for French cabaret songs, nothing is impossible.

In spite of his years, Daniel Lavoie doesn’t seem to have aged. Always the same smile which sets all the women on this planet a quiver, they just can’t resist him. With or without a moustache, with or without an earring, Daniel Lavoie has everything going for him: grace and talent. Who could ask for more?