1986–1993: Early music career During the 1980s, Fabian entered a number of European competitions and won several prizes. She released her first single, "L'Aziza est en pleurs" / "Il y avait," in 1986. In 1988, the
RTL TV channel in Luxembourg invited Fabian to represent the country at the
33rd Eurovision Song Contest, held that year in
Dublin, Ireland. The song was a composition by Jacques Cardona and Alain Garcia entitled "
Croire" (Believe), which reached a respectable fourth place (while
Celine Dion won the contest representing Switzerland). The single became a hit in Europe, selling nearly 500,000 copies. In 1990, Fabian and musical collaborator
Rick Allison moved to
Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to embark on a career in North America. They started their own music label and publishing company, Productions Clandestines. In August 1991, her self-titled French-language debut album,
Lara Fabian, was released in Canada and sold over 100,000 copies. The success of upbeat
dance-pop singles such as "Le jour où tu partiras", "Les murs", and "Qui pense à l'amour" gave Fabian radio exposure. She received several nominations at the 1993
ADISQ Awards, and a poll published around that time voted her Québec's most promising singer.
1994–1996: Breakthrough album: Carpe diem Constant touring in
Québec helped Fabian's 1994 album
Carpe diem become her breakthrough album. The album went gold three weeks after its release, and spawned three hit singles: "Tu t'en vas", "Si tu m'aimes", and "Leïla". The following year, the album went double platinum. Fabian received two
Félix Awards at the 1995 ADISQ gala: Best Show of The Year and Best Female Singer of The Year (a category that is voted for by the public). In 1996,
Walt Disney Studios hired Fabian as the voice of the character of Esmeralda in the Canadian French version of the animated feature
The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Disney also included "Que Dieu aide les exclus", Fabian's French version of the song "God Help The Outcasts", on the film's English soundtrack album alongside
Bette Midler's version. Since 1996, Lara Fabian has also held Canadian citizenship alongside her original Belgian passport.
1997–1999: Mainstream international success: Pure and Live After the success of
Carpe diem, Fabian signed a contract with the French
Polydor label for several albums and
Pure was released in June 1997.
Pure sold more than two million copies in France; the album went platinum in less than two weeks, and spawned several hit singles: "Tout", "Je t'aime", "Humana", "Si tu m'aimes", and the anti-
homophobia anthem "La Différence". The album won a
Félix Award for Popular Album of the Year at the 1997
ADISQ gala and was nominated for two
Juno Awards in the Best Selling French Album category, and for Fabian as Best Female Singer. In February 1998, Fabian received the Discovery of the Year award during the
Victoires de la Musique Gala. Also in 1998, Polydor released
Carpe diem in Europe. In November 1998, she received the
Félix Award for Artist with the Most Recognition Outside Quebec at the 'ADISQ Gala'. In December, she was named as Revelation of the Year by
Paris Match, which put her on its cover to mark this occasion. In March 1999, Fabian released her first live album, named
Live, which debuted at 1 on the French charts. This helped seal an international recording contract with
Sony Music. In May 1999, Fabian was honoured at the
World Music Awards in Monaco as the best-selling Benelux artist. In July 1999, with over six million records already sold across Europe, Polydor rereleased Fabian's
self-titled debut album.
1999–2001: Extension of success to the US and Latin America: Lara Fabian In the summer of 1999, Fabian recorded her first English-language album,
Lara Fabian, in New York and San Francisco for the Sony label. The songs were written and produced with
Rick Allison and Dave Pickell,
Walter Afanasieff,
Glen Ballard and
Patrick Leonard. The album debuted at No.1 on the Billboard 'Heatseekers' album chart, reached No.1 on the French album chart, and was No.2 on the Belgian album chart. For the Asian version of the album, Fabian collaborated with American-Taiwanese pop star
Leehom Wang on the song "Light of My Life". The
dance-pop song "
I Will Love Again", her first English single, reached No.1 on the US
Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play, and peaked No.32 on the
Billboard Hot 100, No.10
Adult Contemporary, as well as appearing in several international charts. This included the
UK Singles Chart, where it peaked at No.63. It features 11 songs in different languages by Russian composer
Igor Krutoy. It features stories about a woman who experiences several lives over the years and centuries. Eleven music videos, one each song, were combined to create a full-length film, produced and directed by Ukrainian film producer
Alan Badoev. The album itself, containing a CD and a DVD, was first released in Ukraine in October 2010 and in Russia in November. The whole set of songs composed by Fabian with Igor Krutoy is in English, French, Italian, Spanish, and Russian. She first introduced one of these songs in 2009 during the New Wave Festival in Latvia, performing "Demain n'existe pas". Later, in 2010, she returned to that same stage, performing new songs from the already finalized project. She has been promoting this project in both countries both on television and by performing a series of concerts presenting the new songs live to the eastern European public. Fabian was a guest performer on the show of 30 October of the Ukrainian X Factor, singing "Mademoiselle Hyde" and "Demain n'existe pas", taken from the album and also her longtime classic "Adagio". In 2012, she sang "Ma solitude", a duet with Greek singer
George Perris, on his album
Un Souhait.
2013: Le Secret Fabian released her new album
Le Secret on 15 April 2013, which consists of 17 brand new songs. On the same day of the album release, she showcased her new songs at the
Théâtre de Paris. Her first single is "
Deux ils, Deux elles", released 20 February 2013. The song talks about the love between two men and two women, speaks about tolerance and
acceptance of the
LGBT community – just like her previous song "
La Différence".
2014: "Make Me Yours Tonight" / "Al Götür Beni" Planned tour dates in early 2014 were cancelled and recording delayed while Fabian recovered from ear damage. the names of the new performers at the
65th Sanremo Music Festival. Fabian was announced as being one of the 20 singers in the "Big" (main) category. It was the second time she has appeared on the
Ariston stage (since
her guest featuring in 2007 with
Gigi D'Alessio) and the first time as a solo competitor. In several interviews, she dedicated her performance to her mother. Fabian called the song she decided to submit "A hymn to lightness, to enthusiasm". On the evening show on 10 February 2015, Fabian performed her new single "Voce" for the Italian market. It is to be included in a new greatest hits album,
Essential Lara Fabian, specifically released in the country by
Warner Italy. On the evening of 12 February 2015, a visibly moved Fabian sang on the same stage "Sto male",
Ornella Vanoni's Italian version of her already popular rendition of "
Je suis malade". This was the night of the Sanremo sub-competition for cover versions; she eventually lost to
Nek and his "
Se telefonando," formerly popularized by
Mina. On the evening of 13 February, she performed "Voce", once more, before losing the entire competition. She was already pending since the premiere. An article in the local San Remo Festival publication, "Farewell to foreigners at Sanremo", written by Erika Cannoletta, maintained that a lack of meritocracy and obscure political issues backstage had contributed to the reasons that led to the elimination of the artist. Before this, the Italian audience and press were generally rather cold towards Fabian, especially in relation to her fame in the country. In a fairly scathing and controversial article titled "
Sanremo 2015, who is Lara Fabian? The international star whom nobody ever heard of", writer and music critic Michele Monina (of
Il Fatto Quotidiano) questioned the fame, career and quality of the singer, generating a heated debate on its comment section. On 15 February, she performed one last time on Domenica In, Rai 1, receiving a standing ovation. The singer will reprise her tour in support of her new release beginning from 21 February 2015, by performing at the
Nokia Arena,
Tel Aviv, Israel.
2015: Ma vie dans la tienne In November 2015, Lara released her 9th studio album, titled
Ma vie dans la tienne ("My Life In Yours"), consisting of songs she co-wrote and co-composed with David Gategno and Elodie Hesme. The album, which was released under license by Warner Music France, included the singles "Quand je ne chante pas", "Ma vie dans la tienne", "L'oubli" and "Ton désir". The album was certified "Platinum" in France, Gold in Belgium, and has sold over 150,000 copies worldwide.
2016–2018: Camouflage and world tour In 2016, Fabian began work on a new English album, her 13th studio album, planned for release in 2017 under the title
Camouflage, with a Swedish-American music production team . The album consists of 12 titles and was available for pre-order on 4 August 2017. A first single, "Growing Wings", was released on the same date. The second single of the album was "Choose What You Love Most (And Let It Kill You)." The Camouflage World Tour, produced by her new producer and manager
Matt Ersin, started in Miami on 2 February 2018. She toured throughout the world, making 40 appearances, ending the tour in Paris, in June 2018.
2018–2020: Papillon & World Tour In September 2018, Fabian announced the release of her new single, "
Papillon". Written by Fabian,
Moh Denebi and
Sharon Vaughn. The single was released on 5 October 2018. It's the first single from her
fourteenth album, also titled Papillon, released on 8 February 2019. To support the release of the album, Lara Fabian embarked upon the 50 World Tour with a concert in New York at the Beacon Theatre on 16 September 2019, before moving on to visit over 20 other locations across the US, Russia and Europe. The tour celebrates her 50th birthday, three decades in the music industry and 14 studio albums. Lara Fabian claims 20 million records sold. However, according to various media, her official record sales are estimated at 12 million worldwide. In February 2019, Fabian separated from the management company Odacity and producer/manager Matt Ersin, who managed her career since 2015. Subsequently, she entrusted the coordination of the upcoming "50 World Tour" to the Romanian company "ICT Agency" (International Creative Talents). Payment issues between Fabian and ICT culminated in her cancelling of various concerts. The remaining dates of the tour were postponed following the escalation of the
COVID-19 pandemic.
2020–present: Lockdown Sessions and Je suis là On 16 December 2020, Lara Fabian discreetly unveiled a collection of 12 experimental musical tracks, an outcome of her introspection and her isolation during the
COVID-19 lockdown.
Lockdown Sessions came out in a limited edition without a label, and offers a journey of the singer accompanied again by Moh Denebi. She takes on the role of director of
Star Académie on TVA in 2021. She has also had occasional roles as an actress, most notably in the 2022 film
Arlette. On 29 November 2024, she released the French album
Je suis là. == Artistry ==