Household name in the making
With critics on her side, Chantal Kreviazuk is gradually building a fan based

Chantal Kreviazuk isn't a household name in North America yet. But just give her a little more time.

The Winnipeg singer-songwriter and pianist, who plays a sold-out show at the Trinity Centre tomorrow night, has already won over many U.S. critics with her debut album, Under These Rocks And Stones.

"One of the most compelling debuts of the year," proclaimed Billboard, which has a Kreviazuk interview in its Jan. 30 issue.

"The next Great White Northern Diva," raved Interview.

Kreviazuk certainly seems poised to follow other successful Canadian singers in the pop-folk vein like Sarah McLachlan and Jann Arden.

"I don't really look at big pictures like that," says the 23-year-old Kreviazuk during a recent interview, where she comes across as highstrung, headstrong and hardworking.

"I think it's better to stay grounded by what's here and now -- keeping my values and my priorities straight. I like music, that is who I am. When I listen to Sinead O'Connor and I sense that she's not uttering one word that doesn't come from way deep -- that's what I want so badly."

On top of all this professional attention, Kreviazuk has also been linked personally with label mate Raine Maida, the lead singer of Our Lady Peace, currently the hottest band in Canada.

"I'm happy in my personal life, I'll leave it at that," says Kreviazuk.

Still, she will allow that Maida is "cute," and "it's a special time" in both their lives, given their respective successes. (In fact, the Jan. 30 Billboard will also feature a cover story on Our Lady Peace.)

Despite the critical raves, it's certainly been a slow and steady climb for Rocks And Stones. The album, which was released in Canada in September 1996, has only sold 85,000 copies, although the pace has picked up significantly with the latest single, Surrounded. The same is true of the U.S., where Rocks And Stones hit stores in June 1997 and has sold 200,000 copies. Kreviazuk is also about to launch a 28-date solo U.S. tour in late February.

A child prodigy and award-winning classically trained pianist and vocalist, Kreviazuk says she only got serious about her musical career after a 1994 mo-ped accident in Italy.

"I was singing there with my jaw clenched shut," says Kreviazuk, of her stay in a Florence hospital. "I was saying to the nurses, 'I'm a singer.' They went, 'Uh-huh.' And I'd be like, 'No, really. What songs do you know?' And they'd say, 'Okay, Whitney Houston.' So I'd go (singing between her teeth): 'The greatest love of all ...' "

Before the accident, Kreviazuk was going to university, singing jingles and playing hotel lounges. When she finally got motivated to make a demo and find a manager, she hit the jackpot. Kreviazuk wound up getting signed by Sony for a reported $1 million and working with co-producers Peter Asher (Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor) and Matt Wallace (Screaming Trees, Faith No More) on Rocks And Stones.

"I need something to make me work," she explains. "Complacency, laziness, no incentive -- very unhealthy for most people -- but for me, extremely lethal. I can't sit down. I just become really ants-in-my-pants."

As for her songs, Kreviazuk's heavy, often tortured lyrics and accomplished piano playing are most easily comparable to those of Fiona Apple.

On Grace, she sings: "Without you I am weak, find myself drinking and sinking and seeking," while Boot hints at something much darker: "He's got a big boot, he's got a big fist, he's got a big hand to put me down."

There's also a religious element in such songs as God Made Me while the liner notes contain the quote: "Let anyone who has no sin cast the first stone." -- Jesus.

"I'm a very serious person," says Kreviazuk. "I was very insecure before my accident. I had a lot of childhood and adolescent insecurities that had built up. And when my accident happened, I had to face things head on."

By: Jane Stevenson