Biography
Jean-Sébastien Lavoie is a Canadian singer who was born on 15 July 1978 in Montreal, Quebec.
Early Career and *Nouvelle Star*
From childhood, he was immersed in the world of music thanks to his mother, who was a musician. He learnt the violin at the age of 3 and the piano at 7, and also took an interest in the tuba and the clarinet. He attended classical singing and opera classes at the preparatory music school of the Université du Québec à Montréal, as well as the Prochan School, a specialist music school, and joined the symphony orchestra.
As a young singer, Jean-Sébastien Lavoie took part in various singing competitions in Quebec: in 1999, at the Saint-Ambroise Song Festival, he won second prize for performance, the audience prize and the Hydro-Québec prize; in 2000, at the Granby Song Festival, he was a semi-finalist; also in 2000, he was again a… semi-finalist in the ‘“Ma première Place des Arts”’ competition.
Following an advert in Le Journal de Montréal, he auditioned for À la Recherche de la Nouvelle Star in Montreal. He came to the attention of the general public by taking part in the first series of À la Recherche de la Nouvelle Star in 2003. He finished in third place.
In 2003, his first single was released: a cover of Queen’s ‘We Are the Champions’, chosen because of the critical acclaim he had received for his performance of the song during one of the episodes of À la recherche de la Nouvelle Star. It reached number 38 in the French singles chart, as well as number 5 in the Belgian chart and number 53 in the Swiss chart. He also took part in the talent show’s group single ‘Laissons entrer le Soleil’, which reached number 3 in the French singles chart, number 5 in Belgium and number 24 in Switzerland. An album was released in June 2003. This single is included on it. Jean-Sébastien Lavoie also performs ‘La Bombe humaine’, ‘Je m'voyais déjà’ and ‘Je l'aime à mourir’ on the album. The album reached number 5 in the French charts, number 19 in the Belgian charts and number 41 in the Swiss charts. He signed a contract with BMG France under the RCA/Arista label, followed by a management contract with Guy Cloutier Communications.
Solo album and musicals
In 2004, his first album, Je me souviendrai, was released on the RCA/Arista label in France, Switzerland and Belgium. The singer Dominique Magloire performs a duet on the album, and several songwriters contributed to it, including Jacques Veneruso, Éric Mouquet, Christian Vié and Mario Pelchat. The album reached number 42 in the French charts. The album was released in September in Quebec, where the single ‘Loin de toi’ reached number 1 on the BDS chart for adult pop radio after 26 weeks. He promoted the album on stage at the Olympia in Paris, supporting Natasha St-Pier.
In 2005, Jean-Sébastien Lavoie ended his partnership with his manager. A year later, he headlined the musical revue La légende de Broadway, which toured the Zénith venues across France for 35 performances. He sang on the collector’s edition album of the show, which included the medley Let The Sunshine In / Fame / You're the One That I Want.
In 2008, Jean-Sébastien Lavoie signed a management contract with Ludovic Faroult, his new manager. In the winter of 2008, he played the role of Jean in the musical Robin des bois at the Pavillon Baltard. At the same time, he was working on a second album in collaboration with Éric Mouquet. Mouquet is a member of the band Deep Forest, which has won a Grammy Award and a World Music Award.
On 28 May 2009, he took to the stage at the Divan du Monde to take part in the television competition 2e chance on Direct 8, presented by Laurie Cholewa.
Trois and La Voix
Following on from his time with the quartet Il Divo, Jean-Sébastien Lavoie joined the Quebec “pop lyrique” group Trois from 2010 to 2012. The group released an album and a single and embarked on a tour of Quebec.
On 8 May 2012, ‘Prière’ was released in Quebec, a duet single with Marie-Élaine Thibert, with lyrics by Sandrine Roy and music by Vincenzo Thoma, released on the Productions Lise Boyer label. In May 2012, he organised a fundraising event at the Rialto Theatre for the Maison Adhémar-Dion palliative care centre, which provides free accommodation to twelve residents so that they may spend their final days surrounded by their loved ones in dignity. Several artists took part in this initiative, including Marie-Élaine Thibert, Étienne Drapeau, Vincenzo Thoma and Claudette Dion. He repeated the event a year later.
Supported by his partner and friends behind the scenes, he auditioned on 27 January 2013 for the first series of the Quebec talent show La Voix*. As a backing singer for Jean-Pierre Ferland, he was selected and joined his team. He was eliminated from the competition on 17 March during the ninth episode.
He performed on stage, notably alongside Claudette Dion and Marie-Élaine Thibert. In the musical *Madame Simpson, created by Jean-Pierre Ferland in 2014, he played the lead role of Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, who chose to abdicate rather than give up his relationship with Wallis Simpson.
In June 2014, he released the single ‘Il faut toujours’ (Jean Tosi / Elias – Christophe Balency).
Based on Wikipedia (in French), translation DeepL (CC BY-SA licence)
1Discography
| Artist | Title | Year | Format | Classification | Gem, favourite, must-listen | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Jean Sebastien Lavoie | Je Me Souviendrai | © & ℗2004 | CD Album | French-speaking |
11Songs
| Song | Year | Records |
|---|---|---|
| Accepter Les Blessures | 2004 |
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| Alors Viens | 2004 |
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| Ce Qui Comptera | 2004 |
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| Je Me Souviendrai | 2004 |
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| Je Sais Que Tu Es Là Pour Moi | 2004 |
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| La Quête | 2004 |
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| Le Dernier Survivant | 2004 |
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| Loin De Toi | 2004 |
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| Petit Ange | 2004 |
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| Voici Mon Pays | 2004 |
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| We Are The Champions | 2004 |
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