Background

Lara Crokaert was born to Pierre and Maria, on January 9, 1970, in Etterbeek municipality of Brussels, Belgium. The young girl was raised in Catania, Sicily, after which her family settled down in Ruisbroek, a Belgian village.

Fabian inherited her passion for music from both parents. Her father is a musician who plays guitar and once sang backup vocals for Petula Clark, while her mother is musical as well and introduced Fabian to classical music. For Fabian, there has really never been any question about what she would do with her life. "I’ve always wanted to be a singer, ever since I was a child," she told Canadian Musician. "I remember driving with my father as a five-year-old girl, and I turned to him, very serious, and said, "I am a singer. I knew back then that I wanted to be a singer and a songwriter, and I have always been dedicated to that dream, but it has been hard work along the way."

Both parents so enjoyed the love theme from the film Dr. Zhivago that they named their daughter Lara. Given Fabian’s family background, her multilingualism is hardly surprising. She grew up speaking Italian as her first language (her mother’s native tongue), but she was also comfortable speaking in French and Flemish, the two official languages of Belgium, as well as Spanish and English, both of which she learned in school. Although the family spent most of the time in Belgium, Fabian visited her mother’s Sicilian homeland frequently as a child.

A child prodigy, she not only played the piano exceptionally well but also sang, danced and wrote her own lyrics. As a young performer, she soon adopted the stage name of Lara Fabian.

Education

Fabian’s parents recognized the singer’s talents early on and enrolled her in the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels when she was eight. She was single-minded in her pursuit of musical training, she told Canadian Musician. "Nothing else really interested me; it was always singing, playing piano, writing songs and poems, learning, being taught everything I wanted to know. It was all music, and it never stopped. I had 10 years of lessons at the conservatory in Belgium, studying classical music. I learned how to sing, play the piano, and all the theory that I needed. By the time I left, I had confidence in my skills, and I knew that the experience had prepared me to become a real professional."

Even before leaving the conservatory and while still in her early teens, Fabian began performing in competitions in local and regional talent shows and appearing in clubs in Brussels. Her father, who had played guitar for her since she was a little girl, continued to provide her accompaniment on some of Fabian’s early performances. In 1988 at the age of 18, she entered the Eurovision Song Contest, a competition created by the state-run television stations of Europe to find the best new popular songs, and won the fourth prize for her rendition of "Croire."

Career

Fabian’s first single, "L’aziza est en pleurs," released in Belgium but marketed throughout the French-speaking world, enjoyed modest success, but it was followed up by “Croire” and "Je sais," which sold 500, 000 and 300, 000 copies, respectively. Her first visit to Quebec came on a tour to promote her single "Je sais.” This crucial visit came at a time when Fabian was feeling frustrated at the lack of opportunities in Europe. "It is a very beautiful place but very conservative, and I was young and headstrong," she told Canadian Musician. "I was 18 years old, and I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to explore my potential and express myself, and I was feeling stifled. People kept telling me what I should be doing and how I should conduct myself, but I didn’t want to compromise, so I left and found a place where I could be myself."

When Fabian decided to move to Montreal, she brought along with her producer-arranger Rick Allison, a longtime friend, and collaborator. Between them, they had two suitcases and about $1, 000 in cash. Together they established an independent recording label and production company called Productions Clandestines. In August of 1991, Fabian released her first album, self-titled, in her newly adopted homeland. She had recorded the songs on the album earlier in Belgium. Her sound quickly won the hearts of listeners in Quebec. Among the more successful singles from the album were "Le jour où tu partiras," "Qui pense à l’amour?” and "Les murs." Another song, "Je m’arrêterai pas de t’aimer," offered convincing proof that Fabian was not only a compelling vocalist but a talented songwriter as well. By 1993, her first album went gold and the following year was certified platinum.

Carpe Diem, Fabian’s second French-language album, was released in 1994 and quickly proved that the singer-songwriter was no one-hit-wonder. In less than a month, the album had gone gold and by 1995 was certified triple platinum. Three of the singles from the album - "Tu t’en vas," "Leila," and "Si tu m’amies" - remained in the top 50 for months. To promote her second album, Fabian went on tour, appearing before more than 150, 000 fans around the French-speaking world. ADISQ, Quebec’s association of recording artists, rewarded Fabian’s hard work with two Felix Awards in 1995: Best Female Vocalist and Best Live Performance. One of the highlights of 1995 for Fabian was an appearance she made at Paris’ famed Palais des Congres with legendary Serge Lama. Together the two sang "Je suis malade," a song that Fabian had included on Carpe Diem.

In 1996, Walt Disney Studios tapped Fabian to supply the voice of Esmeralda in the French-language version of its animated feature, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, as well as the song "Que dieu aide les exclus" ("God Help the Outcasts") for the French-language soundtrack. Disney was so impressed by Fabian’s rendition of the song that it was included on the English-language soundtrack as well.

As impressive as sales of Carpe Diem had been, Fabian’s third album, Pure, did it one better, soaring to gold in less than two weeks. Released in June of 1997, Pure produced three singles - "Tout," "Je t’aime," and "Humana" - that each sold more than one million copies. While touring in France in January of 1998, Fabian got an opportunity to appear onstage with another legendary French singer. At a benefit concert for Restos du Cur, she sang a duet with Johnny Hallyday. Thousands of French fans also got to see Fabian on tour, which included two sold-out shows at the famed Olympia Theatre in Paris. Only a month later the Montreal-based singer was honored with France’s Victoire de la Musique Award, the French Grammy Award equivalent, as New Artist of the Year.

It was clear that France had taken Fabian to its heart. In April of 1998, she sold out a two-night stint at the mammoth Palais des Sports in Paris. Hallyday again invited her to join him onstage, this time during a number of concerts at the Stade de France before an estimated 240, 000 fans. In the fall of 1998, Fabian was back on tour in Europe, appearing before audiences that totaled more than 150, 000. Back in her adopted home of Quebec in November of 1998, she received ADISQ’s Felix Award for the Quebec Artist Having Had the Most Impact outside Quebec. As if to confirm ADISQ’s choice, France’s Paris Match magazine put Fabian on its cover in December to showcase her as its Revelation of the Year. Six months later, at the World Music Awards in Monaco, Fabian received the award for Best Benelux Recording Artist. So eager was Europe’s French-language market for more of Fabian that in July of 1999 Polydor released a slightly modified version of her 1991 self-titled debut album. The changes included a new album cover and the addition of the song "Croire."

In the summer of 1999, Fabian traveled to New York and San Francisco to record songs for her first English-language album, also self-titled. Released on the Sony label, the album was an important venture for Fabian, who told Interview magazine she wanted to reach the English-speaking world "because English is the universal language. No matter where you come from, if you sing in English, you can cross over to the world."

Fabian enlisted the help of some high-powered producers to help ensure the success of her debut English-language recording. Such hit-makers as Walter Afanasieff, Patrick Leonard, and Brian Rawling each produced tracks. As for the songs on the album, Fabian wrote or co-wrote about 90 percent.

Achievements

• 

  This singer's most famous album is the self-titled Lara Fabian, which was not only popular in Canada, France, Switzerland, and Belgium, but also hit the number 1 spot on the Billboard charts. On its first release in 1991, it sold 100,000 copies only in Canada, becoming a platinum album within two years.
  
  During 1995-1998, this Belgian singer won the Felix Awards for "Best Songwriter/Performer," "Female Vocalist of the Year," and "Popular Album of the Year," for her production, Pure.
  
  From 1999-2001, she was honored with the prestigious World Music Awards on two occasions. She also won the IFPI Platinum Europe Awards for reaching record sales of more than 2 million copies.
  
  In 2005, she received the Etoile Cherie FM Awards for "Best Female Star of the Year."

Works

More photos

• music

  • Lara Fabian 1991
  • Carpe Diem 1994
  • Pure 1996
  • Nue 2001
  • A Wonderful Life 2004
  • 9 2004
  • Toutes Les Femmes En Moi 2009
  • Every Woman in Me 2009
  • Mademoiselle Zhivago 2010
  • Le Secret 2013
  • Ma vie dans la tienne 2015
  • Camouflage 2017
  • Papillon 2019

Religion

Fabian doesn’t appear to be outwardly religious, or even religious at all. Her mother is Sicilian and her father is Flemish - an ethnic group native to Eastern Belgium. Both of these ethnicities are overwhelmingly Catholic, so it’s reasonable to assume that Fabian is, at least in heritage, a Catholic.

Politics

Fabian hasn’t spoken much on global social or political issues.

Views

The journal de Montréal tells that Lara Fabian became the spokesperson for The Leski Foundation. The foundation assists the criminal victims and people with mental health problems or the autism spectrum by providing them with a support animal on an ad hoc basis.

She does have a soft spot in her heart for the issue of gay marriage. She has released two songs, "Le Difference" and "Deux ils, deux elles," in support of the institution - which interestingly was passed in France in May of 2013.

Quotations: "Yes, I was scared, it was like stage fright, but I worked through it. If you've gotten to the door, you shouldn't doubt you can open it."

"Do not need to look for reasons to hate when there is reason to love."

"Being classically trained gave me the real foundation for music. It's so important in my life. Why was I influenced by all these styles of music? Because it gave me a sense of freedom. It made me feel like I could put my hand in a colored bag and pull out a different colored candy and have fun with it."

"Because English is the universal language. No matter where you come from, if you sing in English, you can cross over to the world."

Personality

Lara Fabian sings in nine languages: French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Hebrew, Dutch, German and Russian.

Being compared to Dion, Fabian told Interview, has not discouraged her. “I’ve been compared to so many people - Streisand, Celine - it doesn’t bother me. Why worry about being compared to the best?”

Physical Characteristics: Lara Fabian is a lyric soprano with a vocal range that spans four octaves from E-flat 3 to G#6 in live performances, and has reached up to A5.

Interests

• Music & Bands

  Barbra Streisand, Queen, Journey, Fleetwood Mac

Connections

Fabian's private life had always been closely linked to her work. A pianist, Rick Allison, that she met at the age of 14 was her first big love. Their creative and love union gave the world sincere and touching songs. Yet the end of their relationship wasn't favorable, and the singer expressed her feelings about that in her song «Je T’aime» which is still her most famous song.

After a 6-year relationship, the couple broke up, but Rick and Lara continued their music cooperation for a long time. After Allison, Fabian was in short relationships with few men of the creative profession, but for some reasons, they ended.

In 2007 Lara Fabian gave birth to a baby girl Lou from her first common-law husband, a French producer Gerard Pullicino. Lara named daughter after her mother. In 2012 the singer broke up with her husband, and in 2013 she announced that she was married to an Italian illusionist Gabriel Di Giorgio.

Father:

Pierre Crokaert

Mother:

Maria Luisa Serio

Spouse:

Gabriel Di Giorgio

ex-boyfriend:

Rick Allison

ex-boyfriend:

Patrick Fiori

ex-spouse:

Gérard Pullicino

Daughter:

Lou Pullicino

colleague:

Johnny Hallyday

colleague:

Claudine Luypaerts

References

• Lara Fabian - Facebook
• Lara Fabian - Twitter
• Lara Fabian - Instagram photos and videos
• Lara Fabian - Official Website