Profile of Lara Fabian on Famous Like Me

Lara Fabian (born Lara Crokaert January 9, 1970 in Etterbeek, Belgium) is an international French-language singer.

Biography

Lara was born to a Flemish father and an Sicilian mother. Lara's name comes from her parents' inspiration of the theme song of the film Doctor Zhivago. Lara began singing, dancing, and taking piano lessons at a very young age and began formal music lessons at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels at age eight. Lara began writing and performing her own songs during her ten years study at the conservatory. Lara's songs were greatly influenced as much by her classical vocal and music theory training as comtemporary artists as Barbara Streisand and Queen. During this time, Lara entered a number of European competitions and won several prizes.

Upon finishing her studies, Lara traveled to Quebec to promote her song "Je sais" and fell in love with the city. With two suitcases and $1,000 in her pocket, she decided to embark on a career in North America. Lara moved to Montreal, Quebec and began her own music label and publishing company, Productions Clandestines. Collaborator/producer Rick Allison, an old friend from Brussels (Belgium), joined her in Montreal and the pair worked steadily on writing and recording songs. One of Lara's first successes was at the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest where she represented Luxembourg with the song "Croire", which finished fourth. Lara still performs "Croire" live today.

In 1991, Fabian's self-titled French-language debut album, "Lara Fabian", which had been recorded earlier in Belgium, was released in Canada in August 1991 and sold over 100,000 copies. The debut album went on to be certified gold in 1993 and then certified platinum the following year. The success of songs like "Le jour où tu partiras", "Les murs" and "Qui pense à l'amour" gave Lara the exposure she needed on the radio. Lara received several nominations at the 1993 ADISQ awards and a poll published around that time revealed that Lara was considered Quebec's most promising singer.

Her constant touring in Quebec helped her 1994 album "Carpe Diem" to be her breakthrough album. The album went gold in less than three weeks of its release, and had three hit singles: "Tu t'en vas", "Si tu m'aimes" and "Leïla". The following year, the album went triple platinum and Lara’s SRO tour attracted more than 150,000 fans. This success was recognized at the 1995 ADISQ gala in which Lara received two Félix awards: Best Show Of The Year and Best Female Singer Of The Year, a category that is voted upon by the public).

In January 1995, Serge Lama requested for Lara to join himself on the stage of the Paris venue Palais des Congrès to perform "Je suis malade", a song from Lara' own "Carpe Diem" album. Impressed by the audience's response to his and Lara's duet, Serge right away asked Lara to sing the song once more on her own, which again delighted the audience.

In 1996, Walt Disney Studios immortalized Lara's voice when they asked her to do the voice for the character Esmeralda and sing a song for the animated feature The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Disney also included Lara's French version of the song on the film’s (English) soundtrack album beside that of Bette Midler's version, which was a unique move for the company.

Lara's 1997 album "Pure", was a two million-selling album in France from which came the anti-homophobia anthem "La Difference." The album went plattinum in less than two weeks. Lara again was bestowed with awards, being awarded a Félix for Popular Album Of The Year at the 1997 ADISQ gala and was also nominated for two Juno awards in the Best Female Singer and Best Selling French Album categories.

This recognition once again attracted the attention of movie studios. The producer of Daylight, (starring Sylvester Stallone), asked Lara and Rick Allison to write a song for the movie. The song they created is "Tant qu'il y aura de l'amour", the French version of the song performed by Donna Summer and Bruce Roberts.

Lara then signed a contract with the French Polydor label for several albums, and "Pure" was released in June 1997. Upon its release, Lara's European career skyrocketed. Sales of 'Pure' hit the 2 million mark, while the singles "Tout ", "Je t'aime" and "Humana" each sold more than 1 million copies. In January 1998, Lara sang a duet with Johnny Hallyday at a benefit concert given for the Restos du Cur in France.T Lara's own tour during this time had two sold-out shows at L'Olympia (France). A month later, on that very same stage, Lara was given the Discovery Of The Year award during the Victoires de la Musique Gala. Soon after, Polydor released "Carpe Diem" in Europe.

After a sold-out two-night stint at the Paris Palais des Sports in April, Lara was even more in demand. Once again she was invited to perform with Johnny Hallyday during several concerts given at the Stade de France in front of 240,000 fans. The following fall, Lara undertook a European tour that reached audiences of more than 100,000.

Lara's popularity is perhaps exemplified by the famous Grévin Wax Museum's decision to unveil her wax effigy, as a Quebec City museum had already done. She thus became the first female Canadian singer ever to be honoured by the Paris institution.

In November 1998, Lara received the Félix award for Artist With The Most Recognition Outside Quebec at the ADISQ Gala. In December, Lara was chosen Revelation Of The Year by the magazine Paris Match, which put her on its cover to mark this occasion.

Lara spent most of fall 1998 in France, where she embarked on an extensive tour of 24 cities including Paris, Lyon, Marseilles, Geneva and Monaco. During this sold-out concert tour, Lara performed for audiences of more than 150,000. In May 1999, Lara was honoured at the World Music Awards in Monaco, where she was given the award for Best Selling Record for the year 1998 for her album "Pure".

In July 1999, with over 6 million records sold across Europe, Polydor released Lara’s eponymous (her self-titled debut from 1991) album. The European version of this early album contained slight modifications, such as a new album cover and the addition of the song "Croire".

Lara released a live album, "Lara Fabian Live", which debuted at #1 on the France charts in 1998. This helped solidified the international buzz around her and she received an international recording contract from Sony Music, which released her self-titled, English-language album, "Lara Fabian", in 2000.

In the summer of 1999, Lara crossed the Atlantic to record her first English-language album in New York and San Francisco for the Sony label. The songs were written and produced with the help of her partner Rick Allison and Dave Pickell as well as with Walter Afanasieff, Glen Ballard and Pat Leonard.

"I Will Love Again", her first English single, reached #1 on the U.S.A. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play hit, and the album debuted at #1 on the Billboard Heatseekers new album chart.

Lara has recorded songs for several Hollywood motion picture soundtracks such as "The Dream Within" for the Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within soundtrack and, "For Always" for the AI:Artificial Intelligence soundtrack. Lara has also ventured into movies, appearing in the film "De-Lovely", performing Porter Wagoner's "So In Love" with Mario Frangoulis, and the song appears on the movie soundtrack as well. Lara also appears on the soundtrack "Songs From Dawson's Creek, Vol. 2".

In 2003, Lara released the best-selling European DVD and CD, "En Toute Intimité", which was an intimate, acoustic piano-based collection showcasing Lara performing songs in English, Italian, and French.

In 2004, Lara released her second English album "A Wonderful Life". The album was followed up in 2005 with her most recent release, "9", her 5th French album.

Discography

Albums and Soundtracks

• Lara Fabian (1991) - French debut album
• Carpe Diem (1994)
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame Soundtrack (1996)
• Pure (1997)
• Lara Fabian Live (1998)
• Lara Fabian (2000) - English debut album
• Live (2000)
• Songs from Dawson's Creek, Vol. 2 (2000) Song - "Givin' Up On You"
• Nue (2001)
• AI:Artificial Intelligence Soundtrack (2001) - Song "For Always"
• Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within Soundtrack (2002) - Song "The Dream Within"
• En Toute Intimité (2003) - CD
• A Wonderful Life (2004)
• De-Lovely Soundtrack (2004) Song - "So In Love"
• 9 (2005)

CD Box Sets releases

De la Revelation a la Consecration

Lara Fabian- 2 (three different versions)

Lara Fabian- 3 (two different versions)

Long Box 3 CD Box Set (Title Unknown at this time)

Les Chansons De Lara Fabian

DVD and VHS releases

From Lara With Love

Intime

Live (2000)

Live and Intime (Limited Edition)

En Tout Intimite (2003)

DVD Box (Intime/Live 2002/En Tout Intimite)

9 (2005)

Trivia

Lara studied to be a lawyer before pursuing a full-time career in music.

Lara is fluent in French, Spanish, Italian, and English.

Lara has recorded several of her songs in Spanish and is proficient in Dutch.

Lara currently resides in Brussels, Belgium.

There are different international versions of Lara's self-titled 2000 English debut. There is a version each for Canada, France, Japan, America, and South America. The albums vary greatly from each other because of different song tracks or cover art work.

The "AI:Artificial Intelligence" Sountrack has two versions of Lara's song "For Always". One version is of Lara solo, the other version is a duet with singer Josh Groban.

Sony Music offered consumers a money-back guarantee with her "Lara Fabian" (English debut, 2000) CD, a first in the record company's 100-year history.

Related Artists

• Celine Dion
• Tina Arena
• Anggun

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