A Tribute to Natasha St-Pier by RMJ

Biography

Natasha St-Pier was born 10th of February 1981 in Bathurst, New Brunswick (Nouveau-Brunswick), Canada. Her music career started at age of 15, in August 1996, when her first album, Émergence, was released in Canada. It archieved small success over there. Her international career started 1999 when she played a role in very well known musical drama: Notre-Dame de Paris.

Her first international album, À chacun son histoire, was released 3rd of April, 2001. In France it sold over 145 000 copies, which was enough for a Golden Disc certificate. The album contains re-edition of Je n'ai que mon âme, written and composed by J. Kapler (Robert Goldman). Natasha was chosen to represent France in the Eurovision Song Contest with that song. France got only 4th place in the contest despite the fact that the song was one of the most popular and respected songs that year's Eurovision Song Contest. 2001 was also the year of her first appearance on the stage; she was warmup singer for Garou's concert tour. Total of 56 concerts during the spring and autumn of 2001. She sung 6 songs in each concert opening.

Natasha in Lyon, 2006

But it was the beginning of the collaboration with Pascal Obispo that was the final step for her success in France. The first result of this collaboration was her third album, released April 2002, named as De l'amour le mieux. It was great success in France, the album sold Double Platinum (600 000 certified sales, but total of over 900 000 copies sold during the years) and received Gold Disc certificate in Canada, Belgium and Switzerland. In November 2003 the album was released in Spain, with Spanish title Encontrarás. It included three new versions of her songs sung in Spanish. After the French release of album, in September 2002, Natasha went on her first tour around Europe. The tour was dubbed Premier rendez-vous (The first meeting). The tour had total of 51 concerts (plus three cancelled dates). The tour finished in April 2003. The concert tour had second part in the new continent, in Quebec in Canada, where she had 32 more concerts between 30th of July and 15th of November, 2003.

In January 2003, she also participated first time in the famous Les Enfoirés concerts, where she has been regular visitor ever since. Continuation to her success was the fourth studio album, L'instant d'après. It was released in November 2003, and received Platinum Disc (300 000 certified sales) in France with over 400 000 sold albums. And did relatively well in Switzerland and Belgium, selling worth of Gold Disc in both countries. Also the album was recognized in Poland, where it reached 17th place on album top list. After the album release was, of course, time for another concert tour, dubbed as Tournée européenne 2004. Total of impressive 77 concerts between 5th of February and 13th of November, 2004! In 2005 she attended on The Nights of the Proms 2005, which was a mini tour (10 concerts) around France, featuring many well known artists.

Natasha in Denain, 2010

In January 2006 was time for a new album. The fifth studio album, Longueur d'ondes was released. The album hit number one spot on the top list and in France sold 200 000 copies, which was enough for Platinum Disc. The album also reached the number one spot on digital album downloads with 3000 copies sold. In Belgium the album reached second place and archieved Golden Disc. Again, the album was also well received in Switzerland and Poland. Soon after the release of the album, Natasha went on an another European tour for the whole year with 67 tour dates from which four got cancelled during the tour. The tour begun 22nd of April and finished on spectacular weekend in l'Olympia, in Paris, at the end of January 2007. The four dates of the tour in 2007, one in Nice and three in Paris, were added during the succesful tour, which originally was planned to end 16th of December. L'Olympia were sold out on each date.

After the tour, Natasha announced that she would take a small break and would return with new album in 2008, after which she would return on the stage in 2009. The sixth studio album, self named as Natasha St-Pier was released in November 2008. The album is more intime, involving her own life in the lyrics as well as few love songs. Which also was one of the reasons for the choice of the name of the album. The style of the music changed slightly, too. It now includes slightly urban sound and more poetic lyrics even though, Pascal Obispo is still working on the background and gave a lot for this album, too. However, the album itself wasn't as succesful as the earlier albums of her. She was able to reach only 16th place on French charts, with only 30 000 sold albums. In Belgium and Switzerland the sales were similar, lower than for the earlier albums. Was this because of the change in style or maybe the unusual "long" break from her?

In November 2009 was released her very first compilation (best of) album, named as Tu trouveras... 10 ans de succés (You will find... 10 years of success). The album was followed by an acoustic concert tour, dubbed as Confidences autour d'un piano, started in early 2010 and the dates reaches all the way to summer of 2011. Till now (September of 2010), the tour has been great success and most of the concerts has been sold out. Which gives clear sign that the album sales do not correlate with her success in France and elsewhere in Europe. She is very respected live singer. Which is no wonder when you have chance to hear her singing live.

2011 Natasha returned back to studio for her seventh studio album. The album, titled Bonne nouvelle, is going to be released on 9th of July 2012 (digital release on 11th of June exclusively at Vente-Privée), followed by many promotional events all around France.