“I became a pop star very quickly, but the reason why I wanted to do this job was to write songs,” insists Roch Voisine, who is presenting his show celebrating the 35th in Montreal this Thursday and Friday.e anniversary of his album Helene. The perfect opportunity to revisit the peaks and valleys of an often underestimated career and discography.
Your most lucrative custom song
In 1982, I played hockey for the Quebec Remparts and my teammate Stéphane Lessard arrived with two, three agreements. He wanted me to help him write a song for his girlfriend, because he knew I played guitar. We sat down and wrote Helenein English, that evening.
PHOTO PIERRE MCCANN, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES, PROVIDED BY BANQ
When presented with a double platinum disc for his album Helenein October 1989
Then I went to Stéphane’s house to sing the song to his girlfriend and that’s where I met Stéphane’s uncle, Paul Vincent [qui allait devenir son gérant]. He wanted to take care of me, but that’s not really what I wanted to do in life. And that’s when I entered university.
When it came time to record my third album [Hélène, paru en 1989]after two albums in English that didn’t really work, it was clear that I had to sing in French. And that’s when I suggested to Paul that we dust off Helene.
The most defining stairwell of your career
While I was studying physiotherapy at the University of Ottawa, in the evenings, at 12e residence floor, I played my songs in the stairwell. People passed by and sat down. It was thanks to them that I decided to take a break from studies, call Paul back and try my hand at music.
The song you are most proud of
It’s a song that people don’t really know, a 14 minute and 9 second rock opera called The path [paru en 2012 sur son album Confidences].
It is a song dedicated to the Quebec public. I’m very proud of it, because I really put my heart on the table to speak to the world here. When I heard the final mix, I cried like a child.
The song you wish you hadn’t recorded
PHOTO BERNARD BRAULT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES, PROVIDED BY BANQ
At the Molson Center in December 1997
When I listen to my albums again, there’s always one half that I like and the other half that I don’t like. I made 30 albums in 30 years, the demand was so high, it went so quickly and honestly, sometimes I wish I had a little more time. Of course I missed a few, but I would have been crazy not to respond.
Your most impressive encounter
Elton John. I was in Paris and we had the same driver. One day I was shopping in an eyewear store, my driver taps me on the shoulder, I turn around and Elton John was there with his hand outstretched.
He came to the concert the next day and… it’s not easy to sing in front of Elton John! He was sitting right next to Nana Mouskouri. But it wasn’t a problem, because we had a great band, the best Quebec musicians: Réjean Lachance and Christian Péloquin on guitars, Kevin De Souza on bass, Marc Beaulieu as leader.
Your worst show
During one of the toursAmericana [son projet country ayant connu trois volumes de 2008 à 2010]I participated in a biker show in Estrie or Lanaudière. It was happening at a racetrack and the police had heard that the Hells would probably be there. We could see the Sûreté du Québec helicopters flying above us.
PHOTO ANDRÉ PICHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Roch Voisine, in 2010, at the time of the launch of his album Americana
There were so many police that no one came to the show. It was terrible. There weren’t even 50 people there. We managed to find it funny until the organizer told us he wasn’t going to pay us.
The best advice offered by Pierre Lalonde
It was before Helene. I was on his show One night stars and when I sang, Mr. Lalonde clearly saw the reactions of the girls in the audience. Afterwards, he took me aside and said: “I have some advice to give you. Yes, they’re beautiful, girls, they’re cute, but don’t go there. You’ll get lost otherwise. »And I never went there.
David Foster’s greatest quality
[Roch Voisine a créé en 1993 son succès I’ll Always Be There avec le légendaire réalisateur et compositeur canadien, que certains décrivent comme dur.]
I never found David harsh. He’s demanding, it’s different. And I’m not afraid of that, the demanding world. I’ll Always Be Therehe made me sing it so many times in the studio that I had no voice left when we finished for the day.
Today, in the studio, I do around ten takes of the same song and we put together a final version based on the best parts of each. David was the king of punch [une expression désignant une correction apportée à une portion très précise d’une chanson]. He would look for a word, just a word, and he would make me repeat it dozens and dozens of times.
The craziest moment experienced with your late manager Paul Vincent
There are several, because he was a very extravagant person. After a signing session at the Virgin Megastore on the Champs-Élysées, they wanted to take us out through a small street in the back, but there were 5,000 people in the area.
PHOTO PIERRE CÔTÉ, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
With Paul Vincent, March 20, 1990
We were stuck in the car for an hour before the police came to pick us up. The first five minutes it’s a little funny, but after that it’s not funny at all. There were some who lost consciousness, who were crushed. And you can’t close the curtains. It was Beatlesque. And that shook us up quite a bit.
The moment Rochmania reached its peak
It is certain that the show on the Champ-de-Mars, in front of the Eiffel Tower, in 1992 [le 17 avril]it’s hard to beat. There were 75,000 people there, 14 million watching on TV.
PHOTO PIERRE LALUMIÈRE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES, PROVIDED BY BANQ
In April 1992, at Mirabel airport, upon returning from a European tour
It was an idea of the variety director of TF1 at the time, Dominique Cantien. Everyone she told about it thought she was crazy. I saw her again a few weeks ago in Paris and I told her: “Every time I pass in front of the Eiffel Tower, I get chills and I think of you. »
Your best show
There are plenty of them, but in 2004 I participated in a European tour called Nights of the Promwith several other artists like Roger Hodgson and the Pointer Sisters. And there was also guitarist John Miles [qui a longtemps accompagné Tina Turner]of which I was a fan, fan, fan.
It was his band that was the house orchestra. We were doing a rock’n’roll version ofHelene and during the solo, he came and stood right next to me. It’s completely, completely trippy.
I’m also thinking of a Christmas show that we did for the Secours populaire français [une association qui vient en aide aux personnes démunies]. It was just parents and their children in the room. At the end, we let the children sing Little Santa Claus and it had completely shaken us. I remember the thrill. Everyone on stage was crying.
You can play in front of 10,000 people and it upsets you, but children singing together is as overwhelming, if not more.
The phrase from one of your songs that best describes you
This is the beginning of the song The path : “I didn’t ask to come into the world / for three minutes, a few seconds / the time of a song that is too worn out / clinging to your past”.
I never got tired of playing Helenebut to be identified with it, yes. We live in a world where you have to reduce everything to one sentence and be described as “the singer ofHelene “, I think it’s a very reductive shortcut.
Helene 35at the Wilfrid-Pelletier room at Place des Arts, Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m.
Check out other tour dates