Francesca Gagnon (born August 6, 1957) is a Canadian singer and theatre actress featured in

Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; ) is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, Montreal, Saint-Michel, Montreal, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Jun ...

's '' Alegría'' and ''Midnight Sun''. During her career of more than two decades, she has recorded several solo albums and toured three continents singing in French, English, Italian and Spanish.

Background

Born in

Jonquière Jonquière (; ; Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population: 60,250) is a List of boroughs in Quebec, borough (arrondissement) of the city of Saguenay, Quebec, Saguenay in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec, Canada. It is located on the Sag ...

, Quebec, Francesca Gagnon began studying piano and dance at the age of ten. This interest in the arts carried over into adulthood where she continued her study of music at the

Université du Québec à Montréal The (UQAM; ), is a French language, French-language public university, public research university based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest constituent element of the system. UQAM was founded on April 9, 1969, by the government o ...

. Her first musical performances were on television, followed by live solo performances in Quebec, Europe, and Africa. In 1986, after recording her first album, Francesca received a

Juno Award The Juno Awards (stylized as JUNOS), or simply known as the Junos, are awards presented by Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to recognize outstanding achievements in Canada's mu ...

nomination for "Most Promising Female Vocalist of the Year". In 1994, Francesca joined Cirque du Soleil's ''Alegría'' troupe. She featured as the principal vocalist on ''Alegrías soundtrack, which went on to become Cirque du Soleil's best-selling album. It was nominated for a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

and several

Félix Awards Felix may refer to: * Felix (name), people and fictional characters with the name Places * Arabia Felix is the ancient Latin name of Yemen * Felix, Spain, a municipality of the province Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, ...

in 1995, winning two of the latter. ''Alegría'' was also ranked on the Billboard World Music Chart for 65 weeks. Francesca continued touring with ''Alegría'' and starred as 'The White Singer' in the 2001 DVD recorded live in Sydney. During this period, she also performed with the troupe on

The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has been broadcast on NBC since 1954. The program has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2 ...

and before

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

in England. Although she left Cirque in 2002 to resume her solo career, Francesca returned to sing ''Alegrías title track at the 25th anniversary of the Montreal Jazz Festival and the 20th anniversary of

in 2004. That concert, directed by Michel Lemieux and Victor Pilon, has been released on DVD as Cirque du Soleil's ''Midnight Sun''. Since returning to her solo career, she released her newest album ''Hybride'' in 2005 after two years of production. On the album, Francesca sings in a language of her creation inspired by the musical tones of different languages. The reasoning behind this was that she "wanted to transport us to a world where the language exists on a universal level without any border of race, country or words."http://www.lestudio1.com/MagazineEnglish3.html

Selected discography

Filmography

References

External links

Francesca Gagnon's official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gagnon, Francesca 1957 births Living people Singers from Quebec French-language singers of Canada Cirque du Soleil performers 20th-century Canadian women singers 21st-century Canadian women singers