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Roch Armand Joseph Voisine, O.C. (born 26 March 1963 in Edmundston, New Brunswick) is an Acadian-Québécois singer-songwriter, actor, and radio and TV host who lives in Montreal, Quebec, when he is not performing in Las Vegas, Nevada. He writes and performs material in both English and French. He won the Juno Award for Male Vocalist of the Year in 1994. In 1997 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Roch Voisine was born in Edmundston, New Brunswick, but grew up in Saint Basile. His parents are Réal Voisine, mayor of Notre-Dame-du-Lac, Québec and a former English teacher, and Zélande Robichaud, a former nurse. He is the oldest of three children: his brother, Marc, was born in 1965, and his sister, Janice, was born in 1966. They work today as a nurse and hair stylist, respectively. Roch lived with his paternal grandparents, Maurille and Dorina Racine Voisine, from age four, when his parents divorced, until he was eight, when he went to live with his father. Roch considers these grandparents very influential on him, even as an adult. Roch moved to Notre-Dame-du-Lac when he was 12. He aspired to be a professional hockey player until he was severely injured playing baseball in 1981. He attended the University of Ottawa and graduated in 1985 with a degree in physical therapy.
Voisine married Myriam Saint-Jean on 21 December 2002. Voisine and Saint-Jean have two sons: Killian (born 25 June 2004) and Alix-Élouan (born 9 January 2006).
Voisine's musical breakthrough came with his 1989 album Hélène which sold three million copies and became a major hit not only in Quebec but also in France, Belgium and Switzerland. In 1990, Hélène was awarded the Best Album prize at the the Victoires de la Musique, France's version of Grammys. After a highly successful European Tour in 1991, he was awarded France's Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
In 1993, Voisine had his biggest English-language hit to date with the single and album both entitled I'll Always Be There, which he worked on with David Foster.
Over the years, he has continued to alternatively record both French and English-language albums. His French language work and concert tours have continued to enjoy success in Europe (especially France) and Quebec, while his English-language recordings are a frequent mainstay of Canadian Adult Contemporary radio.
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