I recently saw an enlightening interview with singer/songwriter Serge Fiori. I had heard his name mentioned before but didn’t really know who he was.
He began his career as lead singer in a band named Harmonium. The musicians reached stardom in 1977, playing large venues across Canada, the USA and Europe. At this stage, Fiori was beginning to lose the vital exchange between the stage and the audience and between him and his band mates. The audience became a sea of fans, pulling more energy out of him than what he could humanly offer. Groupies would wait for him outside his home. The interviewer added that he would have done anything Fiori would have asked him to. And to that he laughed and replied that that was the problem.
This cult following ultimately cost him his sanity. He could no longer stand on a stage without being overcome with terror. He had no place to go but within his head. The group disbanded and he was left to slowly rebuild his health, as his fans turned against him and his father passed away.
In 1978 he collaborates with Richard Séguin to produce an award-winning record. Fiori remembers how destroyed he was when he went to accept the award, he could not even properly button-up his shirt. But now and then, he still collaborates on various projects.
What took me by surprise is that a song that I heard over and over during my life, a song that is synonym with laughter, was written by Serge Fiori. In 1984, he gives us the Just For Laughs Festival theme song. Truly unexpected, nobody knows how to take it. For me, it proves to be an incredible move.
For this and for keeping to his art from that point on, working on his music for documentaries, exploring his options, I admire him, as a human being. I admire him as a fellow human being.
He began his career as lead singer in a band named Harmonium. The musicians reached stardom in 1977, playing large venues across Canada, the USA and Europe. At this stage, Fiori was beginning to lose the vital exchange between the stage and the audience and between him and his band mates. The audience became a sea of fans, pulling more energy out of him than what he could humanly offer. Groupies would wait for him outside his home. The interviewer added that he would have done anything Fiori would have asked him to. And to that he laughed and replied that that was the problem.
This cult following ultimately cost him his sanity. He could no longer stand on a stage without being overcome with terror. He had no place to go but within his head. The group disbanded and he was left to slowly rebuild his health, as his fans turned against him and his father passed away.
In 1978 he collaborates with Richard Séguin to produce an award-winning record. Fiori remembers how destroyed he was when he went to accept the award, he could not even properly button-up his shirt. But now and then, he still collaborates on various projects.
What took me by surprise is that a song that I heard over and over during my life, a song that is synonym with laughter, was written by Serge Fiori. In 1984, he gives us the Just For Laughs Festival theme song. Truly unexpected, nobody knows how to take it. For me, it proves to be an incredible move.
For this and for keeping to his art from that point on, working on his music for documentaries, exploring his options, I admire him, as a human being. I admire him as a fellow human being.
