© ATTITUDE, UK
magazine, June 2000.
Viva la Diva
Lara Fabian may have sold millions of records around the
globe, but no one's heard of her here. Yet, that is.
"I beg your pardon?" says Lara Fabian, a look
of shock spreading across a face that's a cross between
Mira Sorvino and Catherine Deneuve. She's even more
beautiful in the flesh than in her publicity pics, but at
the moment she just looks horrified.
The reason? I asked her if we could say the C-word.
"No, I don't mean that C-word," I hastily add.
"I mean Celine."
Lara's visibly relieved and, it turns out, not at all
worried about the comparisons between her and another
Canada-based chanteuse with a penchant for belting out a
ballad.
"We're both from Canada, we're both French speaking,
and we're both very determined and ambitious women. But I
don't think there's another woman who's worked so hard to
get to where she is than her. I know Celine. She's my
friend and I know that she doesn't have a problem with
the comparison. Neither do I. We both have our own
audiences."
Thirty-year-old Lara's audience is bigger than you'd
think. Her three French-language albums and live
collection have shifted an amazing six million copies in
the French territories alone. Now she's poised to take on
the rest of the world with I Will Love Again, a
high camp, hi-nrj dance anthem co-produced by Brian
Rawling of Cher's Believe fame.
Lara's no stranger to anthems. Her pro-tolerance La
Difference was sung in the streets during last year's
gay pride festival in Paris and was inspired by one of
her best friends.
"She didn't tell me she was gay for years because
she was afraid I'd misinterpret her affection," Lara
explains. "It was because of that that I wrote La
Difference, which is about tolerance and
understanding, and how what people believe is different
is actually the same. I mean, straight or gay - we're all
seeking unconditional love, aren't we?"
"And how can people say that gay society is
perverted? Those people should look at heterosexual
society and all the terrible things that happen there.
Men and women cheating on each other. Children being
sexually abused. That's perverted, not a guy who walks
around in a gown every now and then."
No wonder, then, that she has no problem being a drag-act
favourite in Quebec. She recalls being bowled away by one
particular impersonator.
"My gay friend Nick called me up and said 'Honey we
have to go out tonight. I have to show you something.' He
took me to a club, sat me down and said 'Check this out'.
I sat there and this guy came out and it was me! He was
miming but he looked like me and I could really see all
my quirks. He was terrific."
Of Italian descent, raised in Belgium and now settled in
Quebec, it's no wonder Lara feels eclectic - which is
reflected in the diversity of her first English-language
album titled simply Lara Fabian. It boasts slinky pop,
get-up-and-dance ditties and soaring ballads like Broken
Vow, which packs a Streisandesque wallop - clearly
one of her idols.
"She's someone I adore and respect," Lara
enthuses. "She refuses to compromise. If she was a
man she'd be a genius, but because she's a woman she's
labelled a bitch. Maybe it's because she comes from that
old Broadway school where you were supposed to yell and
be yelled at. I won't compromise either but I'm probably
a bit softer. My mother brought me up to say please and
thank you."
TRADUIRE
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