France D'Amour

Short Biography

France D’Amour grew up in Mont-Rolland, just north of Montreal, surrounded by her adoptive parents, her sister and her two brothers. She was the artistic one in the family, already searching for meaning in her life at thirteen.France was attracted to the guitar at a very young age, and her father granted her wish in her early teens. She grew up listening to Ricky Lee Jones and Joni Mitchell, dreaming of composing and performing her own songs.Her guitar and piano lessons in high school started her on the road to becoming a bona fide musician. Later, in college, she was the first woman ever to sign up for the “concentration in jazz guitar course” in the music department. There she worked on all the facets of music.In her early twenties, she started playing in clubs and bars with fellow students. Then she got pregnant, but her passion kept her on the road until the seventh month of her pregnancy. Barely two months after her son’s birth, she returned to the stage, feeling that she was born to be a nomadic mom and performer.Club touring for five years, France D’Amour honed her skills with several different bands, composed more or less of the same musicians. Her last band before she went solo was called “France”.Her talent might have led her along that same path for quite a while... were it not for her guitar player. A local radio station ran a new talent contest and he sent a demo. It caught the ear of record producer Nick Carbone. Thrilled, the band invited him to one of their shows in Granby and Carbone realized he’d discovered a gem. From then on, things went rapidly. The singer-songwriter signed her first record deal with Tacca Musique in 1992.She remained with the label almost 20 years and recorded eight albums: Animal (1992), Déchaînée (1994), Le Silence des roses (1998), Nomade (2000), France D’Amour (2002), Hors de tout doute (2005), Les Autres (2007) and Le present (2009). For her 2011 album, Bubble Bath & Champagne—her first album in English—she signed with Tandem.mu.ANIMAL – 1992As soon as the album was released, it was an instant success in Quebec and the song Animal is still one of her signature songs. France D’Amour’s public was rapidly growing. L’Appât des mots, Toi, Laisse-moi la chance, Ailleurs, Animal and Solitaire were huge radio hits, beyond everyone’s expectations. Soon, the album went Gold. Critics and her fans also applauded France’s stage presence and high-octane, electrifying performances.DÉCHAÎNÉE – 1994The release of Déchaînée two years later demonstrated France D’Amour was not a one-hit wonder. With a sound akin to that of her debut album, it confirmed her rocker image and quickly went Gold as well. Vivante, Mon Frère, Va t’en pas, J’ai plus ma place, Confidente, La chanson des fleurs and Lettre à ma mère were hits as well and her fan base kept growing.LE SILENCE DES ROSES – 1998On this third album, France D’Amour pushed the boundaries of her sound, exploring new textures, challenging herself and her fans to evolve. While working on the album, she could not quite define the sound she was looking for, but when she heard the sound and rhythms of Canadian band The Odds, she knew that was what she’d had in mind. She called Odds guitarist Steven Drake and told him she wanted to collaborate with him. Steven agreed, and the chemistry between the two musicians was instantaneous. The first song recorded in the studio (Je t’aime encore) was so perfect that the first take was the one used on the album. Many songs in Le silence des roses were radio hits—Je t’aime encore, On est comme on est, Si j’ai tort, Je comprends and Si c’était vrai, this last one an all-time favorite. Le silence des roses was a milestone in France D’Amour’s career.NOTRE-DAME DE PARIS – 1998During France’s tour with Le silence des roses, Quebec songwriter Luc Plamondon, one of the best known authors in Europe and Canada—he’s written for Julien Clerc, Diane Dufresne, Céline Dion and created Starmania and Notre Dame de Paris—contacted France D’Amour. He asked her to audition for the role of Esmeralda in Notre-Dame de Paris (The Hunchback of Notre-Dame) . Plamondon invited her to see the show in Paris, and when she saw it, she was hooked. Her training in the school of rock was an asset as it brought the show something that wasn’t there before—her rock singer energy—and the critics loved it. Actually, the show brought musicals back to the Paris scene for the first time in decades.While France learned the ropes of musicals, she reread the Victor Hugo novel, Notre-Dame de Paris, and saw all the films and adaptations that were inspired by Hugo’s book. Her portrayal of Esmeralda was striking and captivated cri