Marie-Mai

Marie-Mai (born Marie-Mai Bouchard on July 7, 1984, in Varennes, Quebec) is a Canadian singer from Montreal.

She was initially known as one of the finalists of the first season of the Quebec reality show Star Académie.

Marie-Mai was born to an actor father Marie-Mai began her interest in music in her early years when practicing piano lessons and also participated in musical theatre.

Shortly, she began singing and her grandmother noticed her talent.

In the following years, she would help Marie-Mai improve her singing abilities even further.

At that time, her grandmother suggested to her that she audition for a new competition, Star Académie.

Prior to this, in 2001, she would start to perform in shows at Montreal's Théâtre Musical in the Passion intense show.

She became a finalist in the 2003 edition, in which she was immediately noticed by her pop-rock style.

She finished third behind Marie-Elaine Thibert, the runner-up of the competition, and Wilfred Le Bouthillier, the eventual winner.

After the Star Académie tour ended in 2004, she was part of the Montreal cast of Jonathan Larson's rock-opera musical Rent, performed at the Olympia Theatre.

Her debut album Inoxydable, produced by Fred St-Gelais, was released on September 28, 2004.

In 2005, she won the prize for best Francophone music video at the MuchMusic Video Awards with "Il faut que tu t'en ailles".

In support of her album, Marie-Mai played 87 shows and released a DVD of her concert, La Tournée Inoxydable.

The couple were engaged since 2006.

Over 120,000 albums were sold in Quebec (platinum certification) alone while the album was released in France in 2006.

Several singles climbed high in the Quebec charts, including the songs "Il faut que tu t'en ailles" and "Encore une Nuit", which reached the top of the Radio Énergie charts.

Her second album, Dangereuse attraction, was released on August 28, 2007.

In August 2008, Marie-Mai was awarded gold certification for selling over 50,000 copies of this album in Canada.

The record was eventually certified platinum.

On June 24, 2009, Marie-Mai featured for the first time in the Quebec National Holiday celebrations in Montreal, simulcast on the Radio-Canada Television and radio.

She performed her hits "Mentir" and "Emmène-moi", a cover of the song "Lady Marmalade", and an excerpt of the unofficial national anthem of Quebec, "Gens du pays" by Gilles Vigneault.

On July 1, 2009, during the festivities of Canada Day in Ottawa broadcast on the Radio-Canada and CBC networks, Marie Mai was invited to sing three songs.

Originally, the English-language channel broadcast did not include her first song, "Mentir".

CBC eventually reversed its decision following the rehearsals and instead decided to broadcast all three songs.

On September 26, 2009, she released her third album, Version 3.0.

She received a third gold record on December 7, 2009, for having sold 40,000 copies of this album.

Among her compositions present on the album are "Rebatir notre histoire" and "C'est moi".

On February 28, 2010, she sang "Emmène-moi" at the 2010 Winter Olympics closing ceremony in Vancouver.

In the same year, she featured in David Usher's "Je repars".

The song stayed in the best positions of the Top 100 Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems chart for over a month.

In September 2011, she married her producer, Fred St-Gelais, in Hawaii.

In December 2011, Marie-Mai participated in the anti-bullying campaign Ça finit là ("It ends here"), and made a video where she revealed that she had experienced bullying because of her ADHD.

In 2011, her album Version 3.0 was certified platinum, with 80,000 copies sold.

She also recorded a duet in the same year with Simple Plan for the song "Jet Lag".

Later in the same year, she signed with European label and distributor Warner Music France.

Prior to her fourth album release, on February 22, 2012, she released the song "Sans cri ni haine", a French cover of "Call Your Girlfriend" by Robyn, as a promotional single.

Marie-Mai's official website had undergone major upgrade prior to the album.

A countdown to the day of the release of the album was shown.

The pair ended the relationship in early 2016, and later divorced.

Marie-Mai has been in a relationship with La Voix musical director David Laflèche since 2016, and she gave birth to their daughter Gisèle on February 15, 2017.