Music
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 the la Ronde amusement park in Montreal.
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.
After a highly successful European Tour in 1991, he was awarded France's Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. 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. The following years, his statue was inaugurated at Musée Grévin in Paris.
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.
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 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.
Read more about this topic: Roch Voisine
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