Roch Voisine

Roch Voisine
Background information
Birth name Joseph Armand Roch Voisine
Born (1963-03-26) 26 March 1963
Origin Edmundston, New Brunswick, Canada
Genres Pop
Occupation(s) Singer, actor, television host
Instruments vocals, guitar
Years active 1986–present
Website rochvoisine.com

Joseph Armand Roch Voisine, OC ONB better known as Roch Voisine, (born 26 March 1963) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, actor, and radio and television host who lives in Montreal, Quebec and Paris, France. He writes and performs material in both English and French. He won the Juno Award for Male Vocalist of the Year in 1994. In 1997 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Beginnings

Born in Edmundston, New Brunswick, Canada, he grew up in Saint-Basile, New Brunswick and later moved to Notre-Dame-du-Lac when he was 12.

Voisine studied at École technique de métiers de Lauzon in Lévis (today Guillaume-Couture Secondary School) and at Polyvalente de Lévis (today École Pointe-Lévy). Then he continued for 4 years at Cégep Limoilou.[1] He attended the University of Ottawa where he graduated in 1985 with a degree in physiotherapy.

Voisine aspired to be a professional ice hockey player. He had to set his plans aside when he was severely injured while playing baseball in 1981.

Career

In the summer of 1986, he had his music debut when he sang on Canada Day (1 July) in front of 50,000 people at la Ronde amusement park in Montreal. He also worked as presenter of music videos on Top Jeunesse on the TQS (Télévision Quatre-Saisons) private French Quebec channel. In 1989, he appeared as Dany Ross in the CBC Television series Lance et Compte (He Shoots, He Scores).

Voisine's musical breakthrough came with his 1989 album Hélène which sold three million copies and became a major hit not only in Quebec but also in France, Belgium and Switzerland. In 1990, Hélène was awarded the Best Album prize at the Victoires de la Musique. He capitalized on his big success by releasing a bilingual French/English album Double with one CD containing all-French songs, the other all-English songs trying to position himself in both francophone and anglophone markets.

After a highly successful European Tour in 1991, he was awarded France's Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, becoming the youngest artist to receive it at age 28. His second European tour culminated on 17 April 1992 at Champ-de-Mars in Paris where he sang in front of 75,000 people. The show was broadcast live on TF1 and reached 14 million viewers.

In 1993, Voisine had his biggest English-language hit to date with the single and album both entitled I'll Always Be There, on which he worked with David Foster. The single reached number four on the Canadian music charts while the album reached number seven. Also in 1993, his wax statue was launched in Musée Grévin in Paris.

Over the years, he has continued alternating between recording both French and English-language albums. His French language work and concert tours have continued to enjoy success in Europe (especially France) and Quebec, while his English-language recordings are a frequent mainstay of Canadian adult contemporary radio. He also enjoys huge success internationally.

In 2006, he took part alongside other musicians[2] in L’Or de nos vies in a formation named Fight Aids singing a song composed by Kyo. Revenues went to Fight Aids Monaco.

Université de Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada gave him an honorary doctorate in music in May 2007.

In the years 2008 to 2010, he launched his Americana series recorded in Nashville, Tennessee in tribute to American popular and country music. The third in the Americana series was dedicated to California music. In 2010 he also released the album Confidences in 2 separate European and Canadian editions. In 2013 he came back with an album of duos called Duophonique.

He was inducted as a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by France in 1992 and was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1995. He was made a Member of the Order of New Brunswick in 2014.[3]

Personal life

Roch Voisine was born in Edmundston, New Brunswick, Canada to Réal Voisine, former mayor of Notre-Dame-du-Lac, Quebec and a former English teacher, and to Zélande Robichaud, a former nurse. He grew up in Saint-Basile, New Brunswick. He was the oldest of three children. His brother Marc was born in 1965, and his sister, Janice, in 1966.

When Roch was four years old, Voisine's parents divorced and he moved to live with his paternal grandparents, Maurille and Dorina Racine Voisine, until he was eight, when he went to live with his father again. Roch considered his grandparents very influential on him, even as an adult. Roch moved to Notre-Dame-du-Lac when he was 12.

Voisine married Myriam Saint-Jean on 21 December 2002. The couple had two sons, Killian (born 25 June 2004) and Alix-Élouan (born 9 January 2006). On 15 October 2007, Voisine's website announced his and Myriam's separation.

Discography

Albums

(Lack of positions prior to 1999 in Belgium, France and Switzerland does not mean necessarily that the albums did not chart. They may have charted, but lescharts.com lacks archives for albums for the period prior to 1999)

Year Album Peak positions CRIA
certification
SNEP
certification [4]
CAN BEL
(Fl)

[5]

BEL
(Wa)

[6]

FRA
[7]
SUI
1986 Sweet Songs
1987 Roch Voisine
1989 Hélène 1 3× Platinum Diamond
1990 Double 2 2× Platinum 2× Platinum
Roch Voisine 49 - 3× Platinum
1992 Europe Tour 2 Gold Platinum
1993 I'll Always Be There 7 7 4× Platinum 2× Gold
1994 Coup de tête 6 Platinum 2× Gold
1996 Kissing Rain 13 50 Platinum
1999 Chaque feu...A 13 9 Gold Gold
2000 L'album de NoëlA 29 24 Gold
Christmas Is Calling
2001 Roch VoisineA 96 24 10 54 Gold
2002 Higher 41
2003 Je te serai fidèle 39 11 5 42 2× Gold
2004 Le Noël de Roch 62 63
2005 Sauf si l'amour... 11 6 32 Gold
2006 Roch Voisine Live
2007 Best OfA 68 18
2008 Americana 1 9 3 22 Platinum Gold
2009 Americana II
(aka Americana II)
3 5 9 46 Gold Gold
2010 Americana III 15 18 18 98
ConfidencesA 3 37 30 72 Gold
2013 DuophoniqueA 12 85 6 9 32

Singles (English Language / Canada)

Year Single Chart Positions Album
CAN
AC
CAN CAN Country
1989 "Hélène" 9 57 Hélène
1990 "A Fishing Day" 53 19 Roch Voisine
1991 "On the Outside" 5 52 32
"Waiting" 23 74
1993 "Oochigeas (Indian Song)" 4 54 I'll Always Be There
"I'll Always Be There" 3 4
1994 "There's No Easy Way" 2 43
"Lost Without You" 13
"Shout Out Loud" 1 15
"Am I Wrong" 10 45
"She Picked on Me" 3 21
1995 "For Adam's Sake" 10 50
"Heaven or Hell" 20 88
1996 "Kissing Rain" 3 13 Kissing Rain
1997 "Deliver Me" 1 28 45
"Shed a Light" 8 32
"With These Eyes" 10 72
1998 "Love Never Dies" 24
"St. Anne of the Wild Blue Eyes" 40

Singles (Europe / French Canada)

Year Single Chart Positions Album
BEL
(Wa)
Ultratop
BEL
(Wa)
Ultratip
FRA NED NOR SUI
1989 "Hélène" 9 1 53 3 Hélène
1990 "Pourtant" 3
"Avant de partir" 7
"La berceuse du petit diable" 3 Double
1991 "Darlin'" 2
"On the Outside" 38 10 21
"Waiting" 16
1992 "La promesse" 3
"Avec tes yeux Pretty Face" 3 Europe Tour
"La légende Oochigeas" 4
1993 "I'll Always Be There" 2 20 I'll Always Be There
1994 "There's No Easy Way" 17 48
1995 "Laisse-la rêver" 47 Coup de tête
1996 "Chaque jour de ta vie"
(with Richard Marx)
Kissing Rain
1999 "Je resterai là" 69 Chaque feu...
2000 "Comme..." 47 European edition of
Chaque feu...
"Petit Papa Noël" 49 L'album de Noël
2002 "Dis-lui" 20 26 Roch Voisine
"Julia" 74
2004 "Tant pis" 33 8 75 Je te serai fidèle
"Je l'ai vu" 13 16 73
2006 "Une femme" 24 64 Sauf si l'amour...
2008 "City of New Orleans" 11 Americana
2010 "California Dreamin'" 19 Amricana III
"Décembre" 16 Confidences
2013 "Hélène"
(with Cœur de pirate)
16 72 Duophonique

Filmography

References

External links

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