Daniel Lavoie: the official website

Daniel's New Path

By Isabelle Massé – La Presse, 2nd May 2003

He's known as a permanent inhabitant of the City of Light since the venture of Notre Dame de Paris, ever since Luc Plamondon and Richard Cocciante gave him the chance to show that he could sing whilst borrowing the clothes of others. He's known to be crazy about Montmartre where he's been living for several months. Nevertheless, "I find Paris depressing" he exclaims, without beating about the bush, to a group of journalists from Québec gathered together in a Paris hotel. "It's grey, damp, noisy and polluted. I'm homesick for Québec. I need to be shackled to keep me here." From the time he donned the airman's jacket for the part he is playing in the musical, The Little Prince, in September 2002, the singer quickly set course for Montréal. At the time of Notre Dame de Paris, Luck Mervil and Garou were trying to drag him into crowded clubs. Paris nightlife? "Not my thing! Paris is a city for working. The first time that I came here was in 1975. I had a moustache and long hair! I was like a fish out of water. It took me ages to understand the French."

Happily, before landing on the stage of the Petit Prince, Daniel Lavoie was given a golden opportunity by Claude Fournier: one of the main roles in his latest film The Book of Eve, a Canadian/British joint production, filming in Montréal; the one of a Rumanian immigrant (accent included) who has an affair with an older woman (Claire Bloom, the English actress). Suddenly, without a second thought, the latter slams the door on her luxurious home in Westmount and leaves her scornful husband to start a new life in a semi-basement flat in the poor part of town. "She's come to that point in her life where she finds the courage to do what she'd been dreaming of doing for ages." Daniel recounts. "It's like opening the door to the birdcage. It's delightful to see in a world where it's the old fellows who get the young girls, that a woman of mature years can be courted by a young man."

A musical, then a second one, and now a film. Daniel Lavoie's name has not been enthroned at the top of the charts for ages but he occupies an enviable prime position on advertising posters of popular musicals and, from now on, of a film. For a little while his name did not appear on the poster of The Book of Eve (Histoires d'Eve in the French version). "Claude Fournier asked me to take the part" Daniel explained. "I agreed, then one month before the start of filming, I called him to say that I didn't want to risk it. Truly. It was the first time that I would find myself in an area where I wasn't in control of the situation and that bothered me a lot. I felt myself unable to play a Rumanian, in English, with a great actress like Claire Bloom (Crimes and Misdemeanors). Then he came round at top speed and succeeded in convincing me." The big shy one who took all his courage in both hands and who didn't regret the venture for a single moment. "I think that the result is convincing" he reckons without even seeing the film before the interview. "It was a good experience, Claude is ever present. The exercise in intensity was strangely interesting. It was the first time I had played someone not a bit like myself. In the Fabuleux Voyage de l'Ange by Jean-Pierre Lefebvre (1991) my character was shy, a bit down-trodden. I truly didn't need to change myself much. Since the filming of The Book of Eve, I'm eager to start again."

Next stop? Félix Leclerc. "But don't expect an imitation like André-Philippe Gagnon. I'm going to play Félix Leclerc from about 35 to his beginnings in France. Besides, it's there that it will be filmed. It's going to concentrate on the legendary Felix, bigger than life, particularly around the time of May 1968." Daniel Lavoie will re-discover then his music, his raison d'être, artistically speaking. For the singer will never agree to move away from his own studio, his pianos "I've had lots of film offers since the 80's. However, I've never had one sufficiently interesting, before The Book of Eve, which would justify me taking time out for 2 or 3 months. I prefer to write music. I'm not fond of the cinema and it would never become top priority." When he's not talking with the Little Prince the airman is at home composing songs for others. "It's very pleasurable. In this way I can alight on lots of styles. I don't feel affected by the need to sweat my guts out to write for myself and to set out on a tour (nevertheless, he speaks about a solo show). Writing for other performers of my music satisfies me. Perhaps I'm bone idle?" It's hard to believe that the one who slaved away for more than 10 years before achieving an enviable level of fame in the 80's is lazy. Daniel Lavoie put on the cassock of Frollo 500 times. When he goes back to Montréal this summer he will have rubbed shoulders with the Little Prince for 10 months, 6 evenings a week! In spite of the rain and the other bad weather in Paris, the singer holds onto memories of a pleasant stay. He's living 10 minutes from the theatre. "I walk home and the whole thing is only 4 hours out of the day. The rest of the day is my own. It's nice not to be taken over. I arrive at the theatre, I put on my costume, I play my part and I go home." How many people glance in his direction when he's walking in Montmartre? "I put on my cap and my glasses and no-one recognises me!"