Biography of Lara Fabian
Lara Fabian is a world famous French-speaking singer of Belgian-Italian origin, songwriter. Her strong unique voice can be recognized literally from the first note, and her most famous composition, of course, is “Je T’aime”. Lara performs songs in French, English, Spanish, Italian and even Russian.
French-speaking singer Lara Fabian
Childhood
Lara Fabian (real name – Lara Crokart) was born on January 9, 1970 in the Belgian city of Etterbeek. Her mother was Italian, so the first years of her life, Lara and her family lived in Sicily, from where they then returned to Belgium. Fabian’s father was a guitarist, it was he who first appreciated the girl’s musical abilities and sent her daughter to a music school. Lara not only learned to play the piano, but began to compose music.
Childhood photo of Lara Fabian
When Lara was 14, she first performed on stage with her father – even then her melodic voice amazed the audience. This experience later helped Lara to successfully perform at the prestigious Springboard competition in 1986, which she triumphantly won.
Lara Fabian’s career was helped by her father
Two years later, Fabian went to Eurovision from Luxembourg and took fourth place there with the composition “Croire” (“Believe”). The song immediately became popular in Europe and sold 600,000 copies.
Musical career
Extremely successful for her future career was Lara’s decision to go to conquer another continent, or rather, Canada, in 1990. With Rick Ellison, who became the composer of her songs and her producer, she settled in Montreal, with which she fell in love at first sight. At the same time, her debut album “Lara Fabian” was released, which was financed by her father.
Lara Fabian’s first album cover
Canada responded to the singer in return – the audience warmly welcomed the new and original artist. The singles “Qui pense a l’amour” and “Le jour ou tu partiras” instantly fell in love with the audience. The romantic repertoire began to attract more and more fans of the genre. In the same year, Lara was nominated for the Felix Award.
Lara Fabian has often been compared to Celine Dion
Fabian’s debut album went platinum and then gold. In 1994, the album “Carpe diem” repeated the success of the first disc – with her concerts, Lara began to gather full houses, and her musical performance “Sentiments Acoustiques” covered 25 Canadian cities. Critics began to compare the owner of a soulful lyric soprano with Celine Dion. But, of course, very soon it became clear to everyone that Lara Fabian was the only one.
In a 1994 poll, Lara was voted Canada’s most promising female performer. This was an exception to the rule – the poll was won by a singer of non-Canadian origin. At Gala de l’ADISQ-95, Lara Fabian received the Best Concert and Best Performer of the Year nominations.
Lara Fabian in her youth
Her third album “Pure” appeared in 1996 – and then it became obvious that Lara Fabian conquered not only Canada, but the whole world. After all, the song “Je T’aime” was recorded on this disc, which, in terms of piercing, is generally difficult to compare with anything. On the same disc was the composition “Si Tu M’aimes”, which was included in the soundtrack to the popular TV series “Clone”.
The third disc, like the first two, was produced by her beloved Rick Ellison, who was also the author of the music for the songs. Lara wrote most of the lyrics.
In 1996, Disney offered Lara the voice of Esmeralda in Le Bossu de Notre Dame. In the same year, Fabian received Canadian citizenship.
In 1997, the album “Pure” thundered in Europe. The first single from the disc sold 1.5 million copies, and a couple of months later the singer received her first European gold disc and “Felix” for “The most popular album of the year.”
Lara Fabian without makeup
Lara’s fans were shocked by the composition “Requiem pour un fou”, recorded in a duet with the star of the French scene, Johnny Hallyday. Fabian’s music and manner of performance invariably went straight to the heart of even those who did not understand French at all. Lara gained fans of her work around the world and began working on her first English-language album, which was released in Europe and Canada in 1999. Particularly memorable on this disc is the composition “Adagio” – a vocal version of the famous melody.
In early 2000, the singer began to appear on TV screens in France with enviable regularity. The girl took part in various programs, and her single “I Will Love Again” stormed the Billboard Club Play Chart. At the end of the world tour, Fabian received another Felix award as the best French-speaking singer. The record “Lara Fabian” (“Adagio”) was considered a semi-failure in France, however, it sold 2 million copies worldwide.
The singer is known and loved all over the world
In the following years, Fabian had to renounce comparisons with Celine Dion – in America they could not stop comparing her with the famous Canadian, although each of them was original and special. In 2001, Lara tried once again to conquer America – her song “For Always” sounded in the popular film “Artificial Intelligence” by Steven Spielberg.
The tour in support of the new album “Nue” started at the end of 2001 in Brussels and lasted until March 2002. After the tour, Lara Fabian released a double CD with recordings of her concerts, as well as a DVD “Lara Fabian Live”. The success of the new record strengthened Lara Fabian’s hope to remain on the world pop scene. In mid-2004, she released her second English-language album, A Wonderful Life. The record was not very successful, and Lara decided to continue to sing in French.
Lara Fabian and her idol – Barbara Streisand
In 2004, Fabian first came to Russia, where she gave two concerts at the Moscow International House of Music with the acoustic program “En Toute Intimite”. Since that time, the artist began to come to Russia every year, because here she has formed a whole army of fans.
In the photo: Lara Fabian and Igor Krutoy
In 2005, the album “9” appeared. On the cover, Lara appeared in a fetal position, which symbolized the rebirth of a star. Then the singer left Canada, settled in Belgium, changed the composition of the group and asked Jean-Félix Lalanne to help create the album.
Album cover “9”
Two years later, the album “Toutes Les Femmes En Moi” (“The Women in Me”) was released. With this record, Lara Fabian showed her admiration for singers from Quebec and France.
At the end of 2009, in Kiev, Lara Fabian took part in the filming of the musical film “Mademoiselle Zhivago”, where she performed 11 songs to the tunes of Igor Krutoy, including a composition with a little use of the Russian language – “My Mother”. According to the singer, her parents named her after the heroine of the novel by Boris Pasternak, so her participation in this project is especially symbolic. With Igor Krutoy, she also recorded a song from the repertoire of Alla Pugacheva – “Love, like a dream.”
Later, the singer released several more albums in French – “Le Secret” (2014) and “Ma vie dans la tienne” (2015).
The artist’s performances can be called minimalistic – Fabian has no backup dancers, she goes on stage in formal clothes with a minimum of makeup and jewelry. Before the audience, only the amazing voice of the singer in 4.1 octaves remains – a lyrical soprano.
All Lara Fabian’s songs are written in the best traditions of French chanson (not to be confused with Russian chanson). She entered her name among the best singers in the world. The singer’s discography includes 12 albums, each of which has sold millions of copies around the world.
In 2017, Lara Fabian released a melodic album in English “Camouflage” and went on tour with new compositions. The singer also visited Russia.
Personal life of Lara Fabian
The personal life of the singer has always been closely connected with her work. Her first great love was pianist Rick Ellison, whom she met when she was 20 years old. Their creative and loving union gave the world sincere and touching compositions. However, the ending of their relationship was disappointing, and the singer expressed her feelings about this in her still most famous song – “Je T’aime”.
Lara Fabian and Rick Ellison have been together for 6 years
After 6 years of relationship, the couple broke up, but Rick and Lara continued their musical collaboration for a long time. After Ellison, Fabian had several short romances with men of creative professions, but for one reason or another, their relationship ended in parting.
Lara Fabian with ex-husband and daughter Lou
On November 20, 2007, Lara Fabian gave birth to a daughter, Lou, from her common-law husband, French director Gerard Pullicino. Lara named her daughter after her mother. In 2012, the singer broke up with her husband, and in 2013 announced that she had married the Italian illusionist Gabriel Di Giorgio.
Lara Fabian is currently married to Gabriel Di Giorgio.
Lara Fabian now
Lara continues to delight fans with new albums and singles. So, in 2019, she presented several remixes for the song Je suis à toi, the track Papillon, followed by the self-titled album, consisting of 11 songs. In 2024, Fabian continued to create – following the previous album, Papillon (s) was released – an extended version of the disc.
The singer continues to delight her fans with new recordings
Fabian is happily married and lives with her husband and daughter in a suburb of Brussels.
