Roch Voisine | |
|---|---|
 Roch Voisine, 2012 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Joseph Armand Roch Voisine |
| Born | (1963-03-26)26 March 1963 (age 61) Edmundston, New Brunswick, Canada |
| Origin | Notre-Dame-du-Lac, Quebec, Canada |
| Genres | Pop |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, actor, television host |
| Instrument(s) | vocals, guitar |
| Years active | 1986–present |
| Website | rochvoisine |
Joseph Armand Roch Voisine,OC ONB (born 26 March 1963) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, actor, and radio and television host who lives inMontreal andParis. He writes and performs material in both English and French. He won theJuno Award for Male Vocalist of the Year in 1994. In 1997, he was made an Officer of theOrder of Canada.
Born inEdmundston,New Brunswick, Canada, he grew up inSaint-Basile, New Brunswick and later moved toNotre-Dame-du-Lac, Quebec when he was 12.
Voisine studied at École technique des métiers de Lauzon inLévis (today Guillaume-Couture Secondary School) and at Polyvalente de Lévis (today École Pointe-Lévy). Then he continued for four years atCégep Limoilou.[1] He attended theUniversity of Ottawa where he graduated in 1985 with a degree inphysiotherapy and played four seasons with the uOttawa Gee-Gees men's hockey team.
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.
In the summer of 1986, he had his music debut when he sang onCanada Day (1 July) in front of 50,000 people atla Ronde amusement park in Montreal. He also worked as presenter of music videos onTop Jeunesse on theTQS (Télévision Quatre-Saisons) private French Quebec channel. In 1989, he appeared as Dany Ross in theCBC Television seriesLance et Compte (He Shoots, He Scores).
Voisine's musical breakthrough came with his 1989 albumHélène 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 theVictoires de la Musique. He capitalized on his big success by releasing a bilingual French/English albumDouble 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'sChevalier 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 atChamp-de-Mars in Paris where he sang in front of 75,000 people. The show was broadcast live onTF1 and reached 14 million viewers.
In 1993, Voisine had his biggest English-language hit to date with the single and album both entitledI'll Always Be There, on which he worked withDavid 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 inMusée Grévin in Paris. In 2004, he had a huge success with the traditional song "Jean Johnny Jean" written byGildas Arzel. The song appeared in Voisine's albumCoup de tête.
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 Canadianadult contemporary radio. He also enjoys huge success internationally.
In 2006, he took part alongside other musicians[2] inL'Or de nos vies in a formation named Fight Aids singing a song composed byKyo. 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 hisAmericana series recorded inNashville,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 albumConfidences in two separate European and Canadian editions. He was also one of the commentators for the men's hockey tournament for French television at the2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. In 2013 he came back with an album of duos calledDuophonique. In 2015, he released the single "Cap Enragé" as a duo withNatasha St-Pier.
He was inducted as a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by France in 1992 and was made an Officer of theOrder of Canada in 1995. He was made a Member of theOrder of New Brunswick in 2014.[3]
Roch Voisine was born inEdmundston, New Brunswick, Canada to Réal Voisine, former mayor ofNotre-Dame-du-Lac, Quebec and a former English teacher, and to Zélande Robichaud, a former nurse. He grew up inSaint-Basile, New Brunswick. He is 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 have two sons. On 15 October 2007, Voisine's website announced his and Myriam's separation. Later on, he had a short-lived relationship with Narimane Doumandji, a public relations specialist.[4] He had been with Myriam Chantal since 2012 and the couple had a baby girl, Lily-Dorina, born July 1, 2020.[5] According to Myriam Chantal's Facebook, Myriam and Roch split up in 2022.
(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[6] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAN | BEL (Fl) [7] | BEL (Wa) [8] | FRA [9] | SWI | ||||
| 1986 | Sweet Songs | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1987 | Roch Voisine | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1989 | Hélène | — | — | 26 | 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 | AmerIIcana (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 | — | — |
| 2017 | Devant nous | 45 [10] | 71 | 12 | 16 [11] | 27 | — | — |
| 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 | — | — | ||
| Year | Single | Chart positions | Album | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BEL (Wa) Ultratop | BEL (Wa) Ultratip | FRA | NED | NOR | SWI | |||
| 1989 | "Hélène" | 9 | — | 1 | 53 | 3 | — | Hélène |
| 1990 | "Pourtant" | — | — | 3 | — | — | — | |
| "Avant de partir" | — | — | 7 | — | — | — | ||
| "La Berceuse du petit diable" | 6 | — | 3 | — | — | — | Double | |
| 1991 | "Darlin'" | 5 | — | 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" (withRichard 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 | — | — | — | — | Americana III |
| "Décembre" | — | 16 | — | — | — | — | Confidences | |
| 2013 | "Hélène" (withCœur de pirate) | — | 16 | 72 | — | — | — | Duophonique |
| 2017 | "Tout me ramène à toi" | — | 9 | 118 [12] | — | — | — | Devant Nous |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
