Francesca Gagnon

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As a child, growing up in Saguenay, Québec, Canada Francesca Gagnon already had musical inclinations, beginning her studies of piano and jazz-ballet at the age of 10. A few years later, while singing Brel, Piaf, Ferland and Vigneault songs on stage, she realized she had a passion for performing.
In 1980, she moved to Montréal, enrolling in music and classical singing courses at the University of Qu bec, and latter, studied dancing and vocal techniques in New York City. To develop body strength, agility and control, precious assets for her future performances, she studied Hatha Yoga and African dance classes.
During this period, she met Christian St-Roch, who introduced her to recording studios, teaching her the ins and outs of recording while working on demos of several songs with him. One of these songs would climb the charts to No. 1 and sell over 250,000 singles. Francesca's career was launched!
Francesca began appearing on television and as a soloist in theatres and festivals in Québec, Europe and Africa and records her first album for EMI that is subsequently nominated for "Most Promising Female Vocalist of the Year" at the 1986 Juno Awards.
In the fall of 1989, following the release of her second album (many of its songs would rise to radio's "Top Fives"), Francesca headed for Paris. Her unique voice gained her recognition in cafés, cabarets, theatres, and at performances for the Quebec delegation. The simple pleasure of singing live, of letting her bohemian soul express itself by performing anything from rhythm & blues to Piaf or Kurt Weil, earned her the title, a modern realist singer. "I love when songs have depth, meaning, and intensity, when they approach the tragic!" she claims. During her tours of Morocco, Central Africa and Cameroon, she absorbed the culture, immersing herself in the warm African rhythms and renewed her passion for the discovery of new cultures and new music.
1994 was a pivotal year in the career of Francesca: she became "the Voice of Alegría" for the Cirque du Soleil production of the same name. Charming and seducing audiences and critics all over the world with her mesmerizing voice and her incredible talent as a performer, the Alegría album remained on the Billboard charts in the U.S. for 56 weeks and climbed to number 1 soundtrack on the Top World Music chart. It won a Felix trophy at the ADISQ Awards in Canada for Québec Artist Performing another Language other than French and went double platinum in Québec. To date, more than one million copies of Alegría have been sold worldwide.
Becoming a globetrotter, Francesca toured with Cirque du Soleil throughout the world. For the video shoot of Alegría, Francesca added her own personal touch by co-writing, with René Dupéré, the song for the Flying Man, Malioumba. She won the hearts of American audiences, performing on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and for president Bill Clinton and other celebrities. She later performed in Mexico at the Awards Ceremony and at Royal Albert Hall for Prince Charles.
In 1995, Francesca sang the Alegría title track at the Montréal Jazz Festival for 200,000 people and repeated her performance at the 2004 festival. This second performance, featured on the Cirque du Soleil DVD, Midnight Sun, directed by Michel Lemieux and Victor Pilon, celebrates both the Jazz Festival's 25th Anniversary and the Cirque du Soleil 20th Anniversary. Meanwhile, Francesca finds time to record her solo disc Au-delà des Couleurs for BMG France, singing in French, Italian, and Spanish. The recording is nominated at the ADISQ Gala in the "World Music" category.
Returning from tours on three continents with Cirque du Soleil, Francesca works at creating and recording Hybride. For over two years, she devotes herself 24/7 to this project. Having total artistic freedom to use her passion for world music, she joins forces with composer Jean Delorme, and together they produce a recording filled with emotions and that questions each person's place in the world. Inspired by each language's unique musical tone, Francesca invents her own language. "I love using my voice as an instrument", she says. That is why she sings instinctively, bringing emotions, feelings and colors to the melodic canvas. She becomes a musical painter, leaving to her audience to interpret her music in a way that connects with their own imagination, their own soul.
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