Roch Voisine : Hélène, a 35-year Phenomenon

35 years ago, a simple, romantic folk-rock ballad propelled Roch Voisine to global pop music stardom. Let’s take a look back at a true cultural phenomenon.

In 1980, Roch Voisine was playing for the Quebec Remparts in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. But a knee injury shattered his childhood dream. At 18 years of age, the kid from Saint-Basile—a former village now part of Edmundston, New Brunswick—completed his studies at the CEGEP de Limoilou while kicking off a career as a singer.

In the summer of 1986, that career took off—on Canada Day, at La Ronde, in front of 50,000 people. Following numerous TV appearances, he hosted the show Top Jeunesse on TQS in 1988. The following year, the producers of the third season of the hit TV series Lance et compte recruited him to play Danny Ross… a talented hockey player!

By 1989, Roch Voisine was already a star in La Belle Province when his first album, Hélène, was released. The album would make him a star throughout the French-speaking world.

“Rochmania”

Three weeks after its release in France, the album’s title song—co-written with Roch’s hockey-playing friend Stéphane Lessard—was a best-selling hit in the Top 50, where it would stay for nine consecutive weeks. Three million records were sold in France. “Rochmania” had begun!

In 1990, Roch Voisine won the Victoire for Francophone Album of the Year. His French tour drew record crowds. In 1992, his concert at Champ-de-Mars, before 72,000 Parisians, was broadcast live on the TF1 channel to an audience of 14 million people.

In 1993, Roch Voisine rubbed shoulders with Madonna and Patricia Kaas at the Musée Grévin in Paris. A sort of consecration. “I remember that in the early 1990s, there was this total Roch Voisine madness happening,” recalls Serge Lacasse, a professor of musicology specializing in pop music at Université Laval, who says that a large part of the singer’s success was based on his professionalism in the studio, on stage, and in other aspects of his career.

In the 1980s and 1990s, singers grew their popularity on television. It was the golden age of Musique Plus and MTV. “Roch Voisine definitely benefited from video,” continues Professor Lacasse. “He smiled all the time, even in sad songs! He gave off a kind, approachable air. On the other hand, he always maintained a certain aura of mystery around his personal life. His image was polished. He embodied a modern, more romantic Elvis.”

That “handsome guy” image certainly worked in his favour. Serge Lacasse draws a parallel with Michel Louvain, who, 20 years earlier, was proportionally more popular than the “King” in Quebec. But unlike Elvis, Roch Voisine had an image that also appealed to the mothers of his hysterical young female fans.

Roch Voisine offered nostalgic folk-rock inspired by his New Brunswick roots, which was relatable both to people in Quebec and in France.

“The song Hélène had few flaws,” continues Serge Lacasse. “Roch Voisine sang in tune. The chords, the guitar, the voice, everything was very effective in conveying emotions. It was a love song that people could identify with. And the Americana of the few lines in English, which contributed to the image of Roch being an authentic guy, seduced the French, who love ballads.”