The man behind the work
ABOUT
At 18, I left Magog believing I was going to become a rock star.
Life had a much stranger itinerary in mind.
Before the microphone
I spent most of my life expressing myself primarily through music.
But strangely enough, music wasn't my first calling.
As a child, right up until the sixth grade, I wanted to become a priest and devote my life to God.
Then a friend lent me a copy of KISS — Destroyer.
And that pretty much ruined the priesthood.
Something changed in me when I heard that album. Music suddenly opened another world, and before long the altar had been replaced by a microphone.
Music · Montreal · Paris
THE ROAD
OPENS
I started singing at 13 in my first band, SKY, in Magog, Québec. Quartz followed, and by 15 I was singing with The Rats.
At 18, I left Magog for Montreal with a fairly simple plan:
I was going to become a rock star.
Well... that was the plan.
Murder became my first Montreal band, followed by Syhon, where I began touring the Quebec club circuit as a lead singer. I deliberately chose the clubs as my school — a place to learn how to sing night after night, connect with an audience and become a performer.
In 1994, appearances on Beau et Chaud opened another door. Television brought cameras, new musical styles and a very different kind of performance into my life.
A management deal followed in 1996, leading to backing-vocal work, television appearances and productions including Du rock à l'opéra, Cinémashow and Danse Sing.
The people along the way
NO CAREER
IS BUILT ALONE.
During those years, several people played important roles in helping me become not only a better singer, but a professional entertainer.
I met Luc Boivin while appearing on Beau et Chaud. Luc became my mentor throughout my professional career. More than anything, he taught me the ethics of the profession — how to work, how to conduct myself and what it meant to approach singing as a professional.
Shantal Bourdelais gave me the management contract that allowed me to evolve professionally within the Montreal scene and opened opportunities that became an important part of my career.
Stage director Pierre Boileau taught me the ropes of putting on a show — not simply how to sing onstage, but how to think and perform as an entertainer.
Producer Steve Zalac believed in me, at times more than I believed in myself. His vision for creating and designing shows gave me opportunities to grow and helped me rise professionally within the business.
And then there was Paul Dupont Hébert.
Paul played a crucial role in what would become one of the most important experiences of my career. Through his influence, Luc Plamondon hired me for Cindy in Paris.
My character did not exist in the original Cinderella story.
Luc created the role specifically so that I could be part of the musical.
That opportunity changed me as an artist, and Paul's belief in me helped make it possible.
Paris · 2002
CINDY
In 2002, I went to Paris to perform in Luc Plamondon's musical Cindy.
That experience changed me.
Working with Luc helped me understand that singing wasn't simply about hitting the notes. A singer could inhabit a lyric, interpret it and give it life. Acting became part of the process too.
I came away from Paris feeling that I had crossed an important threshold as an artist.
A different chapter
Beginning around 2005, I struggled with depression while alcohol and drug addiction increasingly took control of my life. Over the years, things spiraled until I eventually found myself isolated and in a suicidal state.
By April 2013, I had reached a crossroads.
For me, it had become a choice between life and death.
I chose life.
I stopped drinking and using drugs, and I have remained sober ever since.
Removing addiction from my life didn't suddenly provide all the answers, but it changed the direction of everything. Alcohol and drugs were no longer ruling — or ruining — my life.
For the first time in many years, I could begin discovering who I was without them.
Another form of expression
WORDS.
DRAWINGS.
EXPERIENCE.
Beginning around 2014, meditation became increasingly important in my life.
Through a particular meditation process, I began having experiences that I eventually came to describe as channeling.
I would meditate until reaching what I experienced as “connecting to the right frequency.” Then I would begin speaking while recording the session.
During the experience, I understood what I was saying. But afterward, I generally had little or no conscious recollection of what had been said. On weekends, I would transcribe the sessions I had recorded during the week — often discovering the material myself as I typed it.
Over the years, those sessions became a substantial collection of books.
Something particularly striking happened while working on Be Amongst the Stars. One session could end and the following session would continue from where the previous one had stopped — despite the fact that I didn't consciously remember what had been said.
The same process continued through Gnosis, Bask in the Rays of the Radiant Sun and The Eloquence of Light.
I don't present any of this as proof of where the information originated.
It is simply the record of what I experienced.
During those years, another unexpected form of expression appeared: automatic drawings. Like the recorded sessions, they seemed to emerge through a process that involved allowing rather than consciously planning.
Eventually, painting, resin work, sculpture and other forms of visual art followed.
Back to the microphone
THE RETURN
Around 2020, after years away from singing, music unexpectedly found its way back into my life.
I formed the Judas Priest Experience, paying tribute to one of the singers who had influenced me enormously when I was younger, Rob Halford.
From there came The Stormbringer, Band of Brothers, and eventually Bujold Labadie Blouin, where I returned to creating original music.
And somewhere along the way came Les Bad Boys as well.
The thing I thought I had left behind had somehow returned — only now I was approaching it as a very different person.
Still not finished
Looking back now, I don't see the singer, the writer, the channeling experiences, the drawings and the different periods of my life as completely separate things.
They are different expressions of one journey.
Some chapters were wonderful.
Some were extraordinarily difficult.
Some I still don't entirely understand.
But all of them brought me here.
At 18, I left Magog believing I was going to become a rock star.
Life had a much stranger itinerary in mind.
And at 60, I think I'm finally okay with that.
I'm still creating.
I'm still curious.
And thankfully,
I'm still not finished.