Isabelle Boulay Pop singer Date of Birth: 06.07.1972 Country: Canada

Biography of Isabelle Boulay

Isabelle Boulay is a Canadian pop singer who sings in French. She was born on July 6, 1972, in the small town of Saint-Félicité in eastern Quebec, on the Gaspé Peninsula. Isabelle was the eldest of three children in a family of restaurateurs. Her native landscape consists of cold waters of the Atlantic with rocky shores and magnificent coniferous forests.

As her mother worked, the young girl slept in a small room assigned to her in her parents' restaurant. Here, Isabelle heard recordings of Edith Piaf and Mireille Mathieu. Later, Boulay would say that music entered her life with the voices of these women. In the evenings, her aunt loved to listen to the little Isabelle sing country melodies. Soon, Isabelle started performing on the stage of her family's restaurant. News of the talented girl spread quickly. At the age of 7, Boulay returned home with a victory in a regional singing competition.

Tragedy struck the Boulay family in 1980. After an accident, her father left his wife and children and disappeared to live in the forest. After this, Isabelle only saw her father once, in 1995, right before his death. After finishing high school, at the age of 16, Isabelle began studying literature in an educational institution that is an intermediate step between school and university in the Quebec education system. However, singing remained her passion. In 1990, Isabelle's friends secretly sent her recordings to the provincial singing competition, Petit-Vallée. The jury and the audience were stunned by the power of her vocals. Quebec journalist Joselito Michaud convinced her to pursue singing professionally. After a few months of hesitation, she finally accepted Michaud's offer, and he became her manager.

Initially, Isabelle seemed too timid and uncertain on stage, but Joselito believed in her, and in 1999 he sent her to the famous song contest in Granby, which had already launched talents like Jean Leloup and Linda Lemay. Isabelle won the competition and earned the grand prize with her rendition of Jacques Brel's famous "Amsterdam" and another song, "Naufrage," written by Quebec author Dan Bigras. This victory gave her the determination to pursue a professional singing career.

In the summer of 1991, the 19-year-old Isabelle performed for the first time at the Montreal music festival Francofolies. The following year, she made her debut on the French stage at Le Théâtre Dejazet in Paris, opening for Bill Deraime. Back home, Boulay continued to gain stage experience, touring with famous Quebec performers, including Dan Bigras, with whom she performed 75 concerts between 1992 and 1993.

In 1993, Isabelle represented Canada at the French competition "Truffe de Périgueux." She added another award to her collection and, more importantly, caught the attention of renowned Franco-Canadian librettist Luc Plamondon, who was searching for talent for a new production of the rock opera "Starmania." Plamondon invited Isabelle to play the role of Mary-Jane, originally portrayed by Fabienne Thibeault in 1978. Between 1995 and 1998, Boulay was busy with the musical, which brought her fame in France and Quebec. She gained even more recognition in her homeland when she recorded the soundtrack for the TV series "Alice Robi," dedicated to the life of the first Quebec song diva.

After the success of "Starmania," Isabelle focused all her energy on recording her first solo album. Boulay tried to gather the best poets and composers around her, but ultimately settled on two Quebec artists, Daniel Deshaime and Daniel Bélanger. The album, titled "Fallait pas," produced by Luc Plamondon himself, was released in 1996 but did not receive widespread acclaim from critics and the public. However, Isabelle Boulay did not give up and participated in the Quebec song competition "Dail d'Or," becoming a laureate. This earned her the opportunity to perform solo in Montreal at Le Spectrum.

In 1997, Isabelle bid farewell to the "Starmania" team and focused on recording her second solo album. Now that her voice was well known in France and Quebec, she could count on the support of renowned artists such as Zazie, Richard Cocciante, Luc Plamondon, Zachary Richard, and Franck Langolff. The album was released in Quebec on February 12, 1998, and solidified her status as one of the country's leading young stars. This was followed by months of endless interviews and presentations, and then a concert tour in Quebec. In the autumn of 1998, sales of Isabelle's second album reached 100,000 copies, and she earned her first gold record. After this commercial success, Boulay was nominated in four categories at the Adisq Awards (the Quebec equivalent of the British Awards and the French Victoires de la Musique).

The French version of Isabelle's album was released in November. The song "Je t'oublierai," released as a single prior to the album, became her first hit in France, attracting the attention of the public and topping the French charts. On November 9, 1998, Isabelle gave her first solo concert in Paris at the Musée Grévin. This earned her success in her native Canada and in France, and she later performed several concerts at the Olympia. In 2001, she received two Victoires de la Musique awards in France, for the revelation of the year and the best album, "Mieux qu'ici bas."

Isabelle Boulay has performed duets with artists such as Serge Lama, Johnny Hallyday, Bruno Pelletier, Lara Fabian, and more. On October 20, 2008, Isabelle Boulay and her producer Marc-André Chicoine welcomed their first child, a son.