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Véronic DiCaire – Who is that singing? (#167)
Véronic DiCaire has become a singing sensation on two fronts, both here on the homefront as well as abroad. She has a career as a singer, with a couple of really good albums to her name. But she has become wildly famous for being able to impersonate over 50 celebrities (you would swear she is actually Céline Dion if you were to listen to her sing with your eyes shut… I’ll provide a link to her official YouTube channel below).
A couple of nights ago, I happend to see her in a whole new light, which is prompting me to write this post. I’ll get to this a bit later. But first, let’s begin from the end (the big stuff), and then quickly work backwards.
DiCaire has become a star who had a permanent show in Vegas (at least until it was no longer permanent), doing her singing impersonations. She has been a coach/judge on France’s X-Factor, and she has had numerous televised specials in Francophone Switzerland, in France, and here at home, in Montréwood.
How she came to this point is a bit of an interesting story… (un alignement fortuit des astres en sortes, if you’re looking for a new expression in French).
First, Véronic DiCaire is not from Québec. She is Franco-Ontarienne (or Ontaroise as Franco-Ontariens are now being called more-and-more) from the community of Embrun, not far from Ottawa, in the francophone region of Eastern Ontario. However much of her career has centred around Montréwood, where she found some of her big breaks.
DiCaire performed in numerous stage musicals from the time she was a young lady in the early 2000s, performing in Montréal, as well as in Paris. It introduced her to some of the larger names in Montréwood’s pop-culture industry and resulted in an album which brought her more attention as a Felix nominee in 2005.
Things moved quite fast and she became an opening act for Céline Dion’s Taking Chances tour around 2008, doing singing impersonations of other celebrities. René Angélil was won over and he sent her on tour as as star in her own right, across Québec, France, Belgium and Switzerland.
Her impersonation talents and hit performances have since made her a household name in Francophone Canada, across Francophone Europe, and with many Anglophones. It’s safe to say she has pop-star status.
At the beginning of this post I mentioned I just saw her in a whole new light. Véronic DiCaire just finished hosting SNL Québec (Québec’s version of Saturday Night Live) – and she was amazing!! I have never seen her in this light before and her acting talents are just as good as her voice. When I watched her introduction at the start of the show, the way she was carrying herself and the way she joked immediately reminded me of the type of charm Cameron Diaz radiates. Check it out and see if I’m wrong. You can watch the episode yourself on Télé-Québec’s website here: http://zonevideo.telequebec.tv/media/19936/veronic-dicaire/snl-quebec.
Something else which is kind of interesting… she shared the stage in SNL with Katherine Levac who is also Ontaroise, from a community just down the road from where DiCaire grew up.
Véronic DiCaire’s official website is http://veronicdicaire.com/
Official videos can be viewed on her on her YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuKhv2Zf2Fo&feature=youtu.be
If you’re in France, Eastern Ontario, Belgium, Québec, or Switzerland over the next few months, see if you can catch one of her shows.
Please stick to official sites and do not pirate. Our artists are part of our cultural heritage.
2015-02-02
UPDATE 2015-02-06:
DiCaire just annonced she will be doing pan-Canadian tours in English for Anglophones and also in French for Francophones in Western Canada, Ontario and Acadia. Refer to her official website in the coming months for dates, locations and tickets.
Éric Salvail (#47)
04-10-2014
Éric Salvail is the host of the light-hearted evening talk/variety television show “En mode Salvail”, broadcast on the “V” television network. It’s filmed in front of a live studio audience, and has a feel much like other late-night talk formats elsewhere in North America. The show is going into its second year this season.
En mode Salvail generally starts off with a comedic bang, often in the streets of Montréal, and often with a “prank”, “gag” or event which draws in unexpected pedestrians. For example, the last couple of shows involved setting up a mini-version of the show’s studios being shrunk and squeezed into a couple of shipping containers placed in a public square. Individuals from the public, oblivious to what was happening, walked inside to find a crowd cheering for them, and then being seated for a one-on-one interview with Salvail as guests of honour. Another recent episode saw Les trois accords give a concert from an open-topped double-decker bus, driving around Montréal, catching everyone off guard.
After the whacky, comedic openings, the interview show begins, and usually runs anywhere with 2 to 5 celebrities being interviewed. Éric Salvail generally doesn’t go into controversial or “deep” interviews with his guest (it’s a show which keeps a style similar to Pénélope McQuade rather than Tout le monde en parle or Bazzo TV).
Salvail also takes on other roles in other media programs or platforms. He did a televised stand-up comedy act at the last Le Grand Rire de Québec (along with Véronique Cloutier and Louis Morissette), he has hosted other variety television shows in the past (as well as having appeared in a good many other programs hosted by other celebrities). At the onset, he made a name for himself in radio in and around Montréal about 15 years ago.
Despite having been on the Montréwood scene for a good number of years, he is still quite young, his two last talk shows have become quite popular, and I’m sure he’ll be one of those standing centre in Montréwood for years to come.
Even if you don’t have time to watch full episodes of En mode Salvail, or if your cable distributor does not carry the private “V” television network, it’s still worth checking out the comedic show openings online on “V’s” official website by clicking HERE (you can chose which episode and what part of the episode you want to watch by clicking options under the section entitled Invités de la semaine half way down the page in the right margin)..
Have fun!
ADDENDUM 2015-02-10
Salvail has begun a new celebrity cooking program on V, in which he cooks with celebrities. The show has only aired once, but recorded programs already include people spoken about in this blog, such as Guylaine Tremblay, Louis-José Houde, Xavier Dolan, and Lise Dion. They do shooters as they cook, they laugh, joke, and make love… (kidding – they don’t make love, but they do all the rest, including on-air shooters. But with that said, if they keep doing shooters at the rate we’re seeing, the love-making could very well follow 😉 ). Il va sans dire que quelqu’un dans la salle semble être en train d’abattre le brouillard!
L’Été indien (#29)
No, the subject of this post is not about the classic 1975 song from France, sung by Joe Dassin “L’Été indien” (one of the most famous and greatest known French songs of all time).
Rather, this is about Julie Snyder having pulled off another big one… and this time she did it big! “L’Été Indien” (Indian Summer) is a 4-part Television series airing every Sunday in September. It’s the largest ever Québec-France co-production variety show being shown to both publics on television on both sides of the ocean. However it is almost completely filmed in Québec.
It aired in August in France. Sneak-peak views at the ratings indicate that during August, it was the #1 viewed program in France with about 4 million views. The first two airings have already taken place in Canada, and it was the #1 watched program on TVA at the time, with an audience of 2 million the 1st episode, and 1.6 million the second episode.
It is set on a giant outdoor stage in the old port of Montréal, with the Montréal downtown skyline as a backdrop. It is co-hosted by Julie Snyder representing us on this side of the ocean, and Michel Drucker (arguably one of France’s best known TV hosts / presenters / interviewers spanning a 40 year career) representing France. It is broadcast on TVA in Québec and Canada, and TV5 in France. It is also being broadcast in 200 countries via TV5 monde.
The invitees include the biggest of the big Francophone celebrities, both throughout the decades, and some more recent — from Québec, Ontario, New Brunswick, Belgium, France, and even one from the UK. It’s clear it took a gigantic international endeavour to make this show. 200 employees are involved, and I can’t even imagine how many flights needed to be booked to pull this one off.
Not only do the celebrities participate in one-on-one and group interviews with Snyder and Drucker, but in addition to providing performances on the large outdoor stage, they also participate in various activities around Québec in a fun and relaxed environment. This might be the first time some of these celebrities have ever been seen before in such a light. The show also projects and image of Québec not often seen by the public around the world.
Originally an idea between René Angelil (Celine’s husband) and Michel Drucker, Julie took the reigns and has brought us this star-studded line-up that has everyone talking. When you read the line-up of invitees below, all appearing in just 4 episodes, all on stage in Montréal, and then crisscrossing Québec in groups on numerous mini-adventures, you’ll understand just how big of an undertaking L’Éte Indien actually is — and what the international media frenzy and fuss has all been about…
- Celine Dion – Québec – (Julie’s personal good friend): She and Julie kicked off the first episode by water skiing together down the St. Lawerence, right onto the stage (that set the tone for the entire show, right from the get-go).
- Stromae – Belgium – One of the current chart-topping singers across the Francophone world (including in Québec)
- Roch Voisine – Nouveau-Brunswick/Acadie – One of Canada’s long-time famous singers in both French and English.
- Véronique DiCaire – Ontario – Famous Montréwood and Ontaroise singer, having performed with some of the biggest names in the industry, and having become a star in her own right.
- Fred Pellerin – Québec – a famous (and rather young) story-teller, bringing his stories to life through song and oral story recitals. His tiny home village of St-Elie-de-Claxton (Québec), has become a tourist attraction because of the attention Pellerin has brought to it through his stories.
- Francis Cabrel – France – one of France’s most famous singers, whose career has spanned decades (Fred Pellerin took Cabrel home to his small village of St-Elie in one of the episodes).
- Marc Labreche – Québec – topic of a former blog post. Famous comedian.
- Martin Matte – Québec – Famous TV sitcom actor and comedian (the last post on the Gémeaux Awards mentioned he cleaned house at the gala this week).
- Garou – Québec – For almost two decades, he has been one of the most famous and best known singers in Québec and France.
- Mika – UK (originally from Lebanon) – Well known to an Anglophone public with several English language hits a few years ago. He is now singing in French and cleaning up the charts in numerous Francophone countries (he has Lebanese Francophone roots, lived a few years in France as a child, but has mostly grown up in the UK).
- Cœur de Pirate – Québec – Famous (and quite young) singer who has attained huge musical achievements, success and fame in a very short period of time (both in Québec and France).
- Xavier Dolan – Québec – Internationally award winning movie director. In the history of movies, he is one of the youngest people in his profession to have ever achieved so much international acclaim at such as young age.
- Vincent Niclo – France – Famous singer and actor.
- Patrick Bruel – France – One France’s most famous singers, whose career has spanned decades.
- Karim Ouellet – Québec – A relatively newer chart-topping singer, he has won some of Québec and Canada’s biggest awards in music (a Juno, le Prix Félix-Leclerc). He grew up in numerous countries (his father was a Canadian diplomat), but calls Québec home.
- Corneille – Québec – A wildly popular singer in Québec with a funk-R’n’B sound. His personal story (having survived the Rwandan Genocide, while his family did not) has captured the hearts of the public.
- Ginette Reno – Québec – The subject of a previous post — a super star.
- Robert Charlebois – Québec – Considered one of the legends and “founding fathers” of contemporary Québec music, in terms of style, language, and tone. His career has brought him from the 1960s to today, and it continues to go strong.
- Marie-Mai – Ontario – The subject of a previous post. A wildly popular singer.
- Isabelle Boulay – Québec – Mentioned in the post “Québec = Country”. A celebrity singer who’s music has been popular for around 15 years.
- Rachid Badouri – Québec – A very popular comedian, performing both at home in Québec, and also in France, on stage and on television.
- Mylène Paquette – Québec – She was the first North American female to row solo across the Atlantic ocean. She has achieved celebrity status in Québec as a result, and was named as 2013 personality of the year by various media.
- Stéphane Rousseau – Québec – A very famous actor and comedian, he is often seen on television and movies in many roles. If he’s not acting in a certain role, he is being interviewed, doing stand-up comedy, or seen in advertisements.
- Anne Roumanoff – France – A very famous French comedian.
- (An honourable mention for) Denis Coderre – Québec – the Mayor of Montréal (and long-term MP and former Liberal cabinet minister), he participated in the program by presenting the keys to the city to Michel Drucker.
- Linda Lemay – Québec – A famous celebrity singer with a long career in both Québec and France.
With such a celebrity line up and interesting program format, this is one show you might not want to miss. The last two episodes will air Sunday, September 21st and 28th at 7:00pm on TVA (which is carried in many regions across Canada).
The official website is http://tva.canoe.ca/emissions/eteindien/.
TVA has posted numerous official footage out-takes on YouTube. You can begin your search for them by clicking HERE. (please stick to official footage only).
Amusez-vous bien!
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