Post by davidhr on Dec 30, 2007 10:37:27 GMT -5
In news this week, a fan reported seeing Gerard Pullicino in Paris last week, and he said all was going well with Lara and the child. This increases the likelihood that Lara was there. Apparently there may be some photos of her in Paris, but they have so far not been made available on the web (and the administrator of Hezia's site said they cannot be shown there).
Scans of the full article from "Nous Deux" have appeared on the web, and can be found at:
larafabian.actifforum.com/son-actualite-f19/lara-dans-nous-deux-t818.htmm
The article does discuss Lara's past relationships, and includes (in an abbreviated list) Rick Allison, Patrick Fiori, Sebastien Lorca, Jean-Felix Lalanne and then Gerard Pullicino.
The new Farfallina (8) has begun to arrive in Europe. Reports indicate that it is full of beautiful pictures of Lara (a greater number than usual), although none of "Lou" (it probably went to press before the birth). Nobody has mentioned anything of any substance being discussed in the issue.
At the time of this writing, Lara still had not placed a holiday message for the fans on the official site. While she undoubtedly has been busy, that excuse only goes so far. There's still a little time left, but if nothing appears, it would seem to mark a continued devaluation of the official site in the eyes of Lara and her team, going together with their now lack of response to even simple questions. Given the controversies associated with Lara's messages on the site, and the complaints from fans registered on it, one wonders whether they've come to feel it is more trouble than it's worth. Running an official web site is a responsibility, as is being a public entertainment figure - and there's really no respite from it, which is why many stars leave it to their record companies. Lara has always wanted to do it her way, but what then happens when she gets disillusioned? It's not impossible that it will be allowed to whither, the way Sony did with her official site.
In coming events, tomorrow night (after midnight) the DVD of URN will be shown on French TV. And New Year's Day is the time it is reported that radio stations can start playing a new song by Lara. We will see if this actually comes to pass, and what if anything it implies about future albums. Candydo on Laradom noted that a number of Lara's musicians recently wrote in their 'myspace' pages about a new clip that was filmed in December with "Gerard" involved, perhaps associated with this release.
As was done last year, here is a not-so-brief review of Lara's year, at least as concerns the fans. I apologize in advance for its length (it's twice the size of last year's), and (with completeness in mind) for including the description of recent events we all know so well.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2007 Year in Review
In January, the year started with Lara finishing up her promotion for "Un Regard Neuf" which had been released the previous October. You may remember that in November and early December of 2006 she had done a whirlwind tour of the media markets in Montreal, and some of those shows did not air until early 2007. Similarly French TV 5 aired Lara's performance on the program "Acoustic", also taped previously. The main live musical appearance was her restrained performance of "Diego" and a stellar performance of "Aime" on the 'Symphonic Show'.
During this time, a number of goals were mentioned for the year. They included: the release of an Italian album in the spring; associated with this, an appearance at the San Remo festival in February; a theatrical production at the Madeleine theatre in Paris from September through November; a duet skating exhibition in Quebec on the show "Stars on Ice in the late fall; and finally giving birth to a child. As we know, most of these did not come to pass, and some even proved contradictory in their timing. However, from Lara's perspective, no doubt the most important goal was fulfilled! (BTW, Lara mentioned in an interview during this month that having been a single child herself, she wanted 2 or 3 kids; that's something to keep in mind…).
Unfortunately, also this month, in what would become a running theme for the year, Lara and her 'team' began alienating some of her closest fans. In a Belgian publication she indicated how much she hated Paris, saying that "the energy there is unhealthy, all reeks of covetousness…". Coming on top of similar comments she made about France while in Quebec, it risked driving a wedge between her and her French supporters. In a related vein, Lara's team (i.e., her father) reacted with a complete lack of tact when confronted with people questioning the value of fan club membership. Both aspects were to arise again to plague Lara throughout 2007.
Lara spent the month of February in Quebec. She was busy decorating her new home, purchased the previous fall, and making some 20+ media appearances, a virtual repeat of her activity in late 2006. She received an overwhelming positive reception from Canadian press and fans, at least in part because of how positive she was about Canada and its people, and helped by her buying a home and saying she would spend time there. The media was also impressed at how passionate Lara's fans appeared to be, both in Canada and around the world. It would be fair to say that she seemed to have succeeded in removing the last vestiges of anger that the Canadian public had felt when she moved back to Europe. When asked, she said she now considered herself a citizen of the world, but most of all Canadian, whose passport she carried. All in all, this aspect was a great success.
It was also reported that Lara was finishing her Italian album. She mentioned that it would not have any of her old songs, since Rick Allison refused to give her permission to translate them into Italian. At the same time Lara announced plans to go to Nepal in May, in conjunction with the charity AMTM.
Obviously weary of interacting with fans, Lara's father hired an assistant, Eve, to take charge of official communications. As we know in retrospect, this did not lead to any improvement in 'customer relations'. The official site did open an "Italian section", in preparation for Lara's expected "Italian" venture, and even a covert "Spanish section", there but not publicized.
Also in retrospect, we know that Lara became pregnant this month, although we don't know whether she knew it yet.
March found Lara beginning her foray into the Italian market. Despite some early missed performances (for pregnancy-related issues?), this too proved to be a great success. Lara appeared with Gigi d'Alesso at the San Remo festival and several other venues, and she received great reviews. Gigi's legion of fans seemed to have adopted Lara, and together with her own fans, bombarded the web with glowing notices. For those Italians seeing Lara for the first time, it must have been a revelation - a great singer and lively personality speaking flawless Italian. And when asked, she said she considered herself Italian (Sicillian), which only served to heighten her appeal.
Lara however had to leave Italy after only about 10 days to join the "Night of the Proms" tour, with which she stayed for the rest of the month. It provided her the opportunity to sing different types of songs with different people; we know from videos of her performance that she excelled in that environment. Lara has said that her musical tastes are very eclectic, and she proved that, singing songs such as "I'm So Excited" (an 80's disco hit). She also showed she could still sing "Adagio" and hit the high notes. The tour covered both France and Belgium; and in Belgium, Lara was referred to as 'their native daughter' (giving her three home countries in less than two months!). She even sang in Flanders, where despite her great international fame, she was apparently practically unknown.
Also during this month, it was indicated that Lara had been named 'Chairwoman' for the AMTM charity, and more details were released about her upcoming trip to Nepal in May.
In April, the official video for "Un Cuore Malato", Lara's duet with Gigi was released, and it was very flattering to her; it appeared that she had regained the 'sexiness' she had displayed back in the days of "I Will Love Again", and which seemed to have been subsumed for the French market. The single of that song hit #1 on Radio Europe, and a half Italian/half French version of it was produced ("Un Coeur Blesse"), as part of a push to introduce Gigi to the French.
Lara actually spent almost the whole month in Canada. She apparently continued working on her new home, appeared at media events (including the promo for the first album of Marc-Andre Fortin), was the subject of various press interviews; she ended the month by reopening the Olympia Theatre of Montreal with two very well-received concerts. She also announced that she was preparing a mini-tour which would include shows in Portugal, Russia, Turkey and Algeria. The only negative note was the continued deterioration of her relationship with her 'forever friend' Rick Allison, as they exchanged law suits over use of their old songs.
During this time Lara announced the cancellation of her trip to Nepal, scheduled for May. The official reason was that her recent success in Italy suggested she take advantage of that interest to pursue the Italian market, and therefore couldn't afford to be away. In retrospect one wonders whether it was the result of her learning of her pregnancy, since as it turned out, there were no publicized trips to Italy during the time of her scheduled Nepal visit.
May began on a sad note, with the death of Gregory LeMarchal from cystic fibrosis. Lara indicated they had been very close friends, and did not appear on the tribute program that French TV devoted to him, preferring to keep her feelings to herself.
Lara did give her concert in Lisbon at the beginning of the month as scheduled, but it was not very well-received. She indicated that smoke in the air (smoking was allowed) had caused her throat to close, forcing her to skip some 5 songs - in addition, the repertoire was apparently all in French, inappropriate for the audience.
For the rest of the month, Lara appeared at a charity event in Switzerland, but missed several Belgian and French TV programs where she was expected to attend (although they had never been listed on the official site); speculation arose as to whether she was having health problems (which as we now know was not that far from the truth). However, she did give a major concert in Russia near month's end, and appeared in fine voice. The concert turned out to be a duplicate of the one she had given at the Casino de Paris for the AMTM charity the previous fall, featuring songs in all four of her languages (perhaps having learned from the Lisbon experience). And for both this and the concert in Portugal, Lara gave interviews in English, showing she still retains her ability in this language! She also indicated she is learning Russian, and hopes to sing in that language in future trips to that country.
Also of note, Lara attended the Molieres in mid-May (the French equivalent of the Tony's) honoring theatrical productions. This was advertised as Lara's entry into that world; however, nothing further was said about the theatre production that had been scheduled to begin rehearsals in July. In addition, it became obvious that the Italian album would not be out in the spring, so a fall release was now suggested. The delay was indicated as being due to Rick Allison's intransigence.
In June, Lara joined Gigi in several TV appearances aimed at easing his entry into the French market. "Un Coeur Blesse" was released in France, as was the official video. Meanwhile in Italy, Gigi's album "Made in Italy", which featured their duet, went to number 1. However, she did not appear at several other events where she was expected (the official site had never listed them, but then they hadn't listed several others at which she did appear). Lara, at the last moment, also cancelled her appearance in Algiers in mid-June for 'health-related' issues (as we now know likely associated with her pregnancy - but it is not inconceivable that safety concerns also played a role). It was supposed to be rescheduled, but never was. Similarly, the concert in Turkey was quietly dropped from future consideration. Highlights included her appearances on the show "Bonnie and Clyde" and "Tubes des Tubes" (the latter didn't actually air until the following month). Lara also traveled to Italy to perform with Gigi at Catane, in Sicily, which must have been quite rewarding for her.
July was dominated by the official news of Lara's pregnancy, with Gerard Pullicino the father (he had been granted a divorce at the beginning of the year). As we know, Lara's hand was forced by several magazines that had taken pictures of her being noticeably pregnant. She then came forth with an announcement on her website. [When her appearances on 'Tubes des Tubes' and at Catane were broadcast, her condition was obvious; clearly she had to expect that people would notice.] The issue proved a difficult one to handle for the official site as well as other web sites affiliated with Lara; this subject obviously concerned her 'personal life' which was supposed to be 'out-of-bounds', yet they couldn't avoid talking about it. The administrators of these sites concluded that this was a 'one-time exception' - but their ability to enforce that came into question numerous times during the rest of the year.
Lara mostly stayed out of sight this month, but towards the end of it she went to Morocco to appear at the "Maghreb Star Academy". While in Russia, Lara had mentioned that she participated in these 'Star Academy' shows because she so wanted to help the younger singers who were just starting out. Therefore it's not surprising that she would make the effort to travel and perform for them, even though she was now 5 months pregnant. [It also didn't hurt that the show was directed by Girard.] Her performance of "Aime" on this program was arguably her best ever - so the pregnancy did not appear to be disagreeing with her.
In August, normally a slow month in the French-speaking world, for Lara in her condition it was slower still. She apparently took a vacation in southern Spain, then moved into a hotel in Paris (in retrospect, this was most likely to provide Gerard a home base for his career). The singles of "Un Cuore Malato" and/or "Un Coeur Blesse" continued to sell well over the summer, especially in Belgium and Italy. It appears she also spent much of this month (and even possibly part of July) in Canada, where Gerard was working with a Canadian artist (Chantal Chamandy).
September brought an unexpected return to the limelight for Lara, not totally positive. Instead of simply relaxing and waiting for the baby to be born, while in Canada Lara's energy burst forth and she gave several interviews. She again showed her great enthusiasm for the Canadian people, but at the same time, expressed horror at being thought of as a French woman. This produced a display of real anger on the part of some of her French fans; Lara tried to soothe their feelings with a message on her website (although she didn't apologize), but her repeated comments to this effect have to have taken a toll.
In that message, Lara also indicated how happy she felt during her pregnancy; it was, after all, a life-time dream coming true. She further noted that she was working on a project with Matt Herkovitz (with whom she just recently had collaborated on a release of "I Loves You Porgy"). The theatre production was said to be still in the works but delayed until after the baby was born; the Italian album was not mentioned. Lara did get some good news, as her DVD was nominated for a "Felix" award in Canada (it did not ultimately win, but just the recognition was another sign of her rapprochement with the Canadian music world).
At the end of the month, another bout of bad publicity arose. Responding to the requests of fans asking what they could buy for the forthcoming child, Lara's team indicated that people should send money (cash, not checks) so that Lara could buy a 'better gift' than the fans would have gotten. It turns out that this turn of phrase was coined by "Eve" (Pierre's replacement in charge of the website), but there is no doubt that the decision had been made by Lara and her people, as her father supported it.
In early October, newspapers got wind of this request, and Lara was held up to ridicule as a greedy, self-centered diva taking advantage of a loving public. We know that is not an accurate characterization of her - Lara appears to be very generous with her time, and has certainly chosen not to maximize her income by doing "low common denominator" work. And the idea of combining the different sources to obtain a gift too expensive for individual members was not a bad one, just presented in a clumsy manner. But what does ring true is the lack of respect that her organization appears to have for the fans (as continually indicated by their responses - or lack of them - to questions on the web site). The newspapers also made fun of Lara's apparent intimacy with her public, focusing on the brief descriptions of her physical and mental state during pregnancy she provided in her website messages. While the criticism seemed to invoke at least a temporary improvement in Lara's teams' courtesy (they now said individual gifts would be acceptable, for example), the ridicule also seemed to have made her shy away from giving out any more personal information. Lara's subsequent messages on the official site, and even her quarterly magazine, made no further mention of the pregnancy. And this reticence would come to have its own consequences.
Confusion arose this month concerning when the birth was expected. Lara had said in October; Eve on the official site said mid-November. This confusion would also have ramifications later on.
Lara did make a public appearance in mid-month, joining Gigi d'Alessio on stage for his appearance at the Olympia in Paris. His performance was also being televised live on Italian TV, so Lara was featured there too. She had often indicated during the year how much she likes Gigi, and going out of her way to appear with him even at this late stage of pregnancy is just another indication of that. At this time she was also the subject of articles in several different publications, describing how happy her pregnancy had been; at the very least, these allowed her to get her name in the news in a more positive fashion.
As November began, Lara took the opportunity to defend herself in "Voici" concerning the request for baby-present money - saying she had not seen Eve's offending message, and "didn't recognize herself in it". It's probably too much to hope that she will learn from this that a professional public relations team would help avoid these problems.
November 20th brought the event that Lara had longed for her whole life - her daughter (given the name of "Lou") was born. From what we can put together, the child was some 10 days overdue, and the birth may have had to be induced, but it all seemed to end well.
Although paling in comparison, even this wonderful occurrence was plagued by public relation snafus. When Lara went into the hospital for tests on November 15, for whatever treason, the Belgian newspapers indicated the baby had been born. None of Lara's people made any effort to correct the false reports, so the news went around the world (and was then published in France, Canada, etc.). Fans noted that the official site was mum about it, and worried something had gone wrong; in response, Eve simply removed their posts. It took the singer Maurane (Lara's close friend) to inform the public of the error some days later. Then when the baby actually was born, 5 days further on, again it was Maurane who made the announcement, and it took Lara's people two more days to confirm it. Even their admittance of the birth was as succinct as possible. It may be that having been burned about being too forthcoming, Lara's 'people' made the decision to say as little as possible - which kept both the fans and the press wondering (and worried). Subsequently they have said nothing about the baby, or made any pictures available.
In Lara's message on her site, posted earlier in November, she indicated that she was "writing and reflecting" on her next release, and "it will not be quite what one expects" of her. While saying this, she made no mention of the Italian album, or even the multilingual album, which at various times during the year Lara suggested was being recorded in the U.S.
December was Lara's first full month with her new child, which obviously absorbed her time and attention. Yet she still seems to have made several trips - perhaps to Turkey, for a business meeting, and also to Paris with Gerard - so she is gradually emerging back into the public world. It was reported that she sent a new song to radio stations to be broadcast starting in the new year, content still to be revealed. It has also been reported that she has cancelled her theatre acting role. Lara's flirtation with acting in movies also has not yet produced anything concrete - she reported during the year that she was considering a role as a 'profiler' in an American movie, and she apparently turned down another role in a French movie.
In summary, 2007 may well go down as the happiest year in Lara's life with the birth of her daughter. Professionally, the positives included fine receptions in Canada and Italy for her brief appearances there; her collaboration with Gigi d'Alessio; some excellent TV appearances; and her usual high quality concerts (although much fewer in number than in the previous two years). In that sense, we are lucky that she was with us, singing. On the negative side, her attempt to expand her entertainment horizons, with musical releases in other languages, or by becoming an actress, appear to have been stymied. Her pregnancy probably contributed to that, but it's not clear how much would have happened without it. There was no album released this year for the first time since 2000. We shall see how many of the unrealized projects come to fruition in 2008 - and if another child is on the horizon.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
With this in mind, here are three New Year's resolutions for Lara, offered free of charge:
• Hire a public relations firm and listen to them
• Recognize and explicitly include uncertainty when discussing future plans
• Try not to bite the French hand that feeds you
If she were to listen to these, it is safe to say that she would not be the Lara we all know and love!
Happy New Year to everybody, and may 2008 be a healthy, happy and productive year for Lara, her family, and all of you!
David
Scans of the full article from "Nous Deux" have appeared on the web, and can be found at:
larafabian.actifforum.com/son-actualite-f19/lara-dans-nous-deux-t818.htmm
The article does discuss Lara's past relationships, and includes (in an abbreviated list) Rick Allison, Patrick Fiori, Sebastien Lorca, Jean-Felix Lalanne and then Gerard Pullicino.
The new Farfallina (8) has begun to arrive in Europe. Reports indicate that it is full of beautiful pictures of Lara (a greater number than usual), although none of "Lou" (it probably went to press before the birth). Nobody has mentioned anything of any substance being discussed in the issue.
At the time of this writing, Lara still had not placed a holiday message for the fans on the official site. While she undoubtedly has been busy, that excuse only goes so far. There's still a little time left, but if nothing appears, it would seem to mark a continued devaluation of the official site in the eyes of Lara and her team, going together with their now lack of response to even simple questions. Given the controversies associated with Lara's messages on the site, and the complaints from fans registered on it, one wonders whether they've come to feel it is more trouble than it's worth. Running an official web site is a responsibility, as is being a public entertainment figure - and there's really no respite from it, which is why many stars leave it to their record companies. Lara has always wanted to do it her way, but what then happens when she gets disillusioned? It's not impossible that it will be allowed to whither, the way Sony did with her official site.
In coming events, tomorrow night (after midnight) the DVD of URN will be shown on French TV. And New Year's Day is the time it is reported that radio stations can start playing a new song by Lara. We will see if this actually comes to pass, and what if anything it implies about future albums. Candydo on Laradom noted that a number of Lara's musicians recently wrote in their 'myspace' pages about a new clip that was filmed in December with "Gerard" involved, perhaps associated with this release.
As was done last year, here is a not-so-brief review of Lara's year, at least as concerns the fans. I apologize in advance for its length (it's twice the size of last year's), and (with completeness in mind) for including the description of recent events we all know so well.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2007 Year in Review
In January, the year started with Lara finishing up her promotion for "Un Regard Neuf" which had been released the previous October. You may remember that in November and early December of 2006 she had done a whirlwind tour of the media markets in Montreal, and some of those shows did not air until early 2007. Similarly French TV 5 aired Lara's performance on the program "Acoustic", also taped previously. The main live musical appearance was her restrained performance of "Diego" and a stellar performance of "Aime" on the 'Symphonic Show'.
During this time, a number of goals were mentioned for the year. They included: the release of an Italian album in the spring; associated with this, an appearance at the San Remo festival in February; a theatrical production at the Madeleine theatre in Paris from September through November; a duet skating exhibition in Quebec on the show "Stars on Ice in the late fall; and finally giving birth to a child. As we know, most of these did not come to pass, and some even proved contradictory in their timing. However, from Lara's perspective, no doubt the most important goal was fulfilled! (BTW, Lara mentioned in an interview during this month that having been a single child herself, she wanted 2 or 3 kids; that's something to keep in mind…).
Unfortunately, also this month, in what would become a running theme for the year, Lara and her 'team' began alienating some of her closest fans. In a Belgian publication she indicated how much she hated Paris, saying that "the energy there is unhealthy, all reeks of covetousness…". Coming on top of similar comments she made about France while in Quebec, it risked driving a wedge between her and her French supporters. In a related vein, Lara's team (i.e., her father) reacted with a complete lack of tact when confronted with people questioning the value of fan club membership. Both aspects were to arise again to plague Lara throughout 2007.
Lara spent the month of February in Quebec. She was busy decorating her new home, purchased the previous fall, and making some 20+ media appearances, a virtual repeat of her activity in late 2006. She received an overwhelming positive reception from Canadian press and fans, at least in part because of how positive she was about Canada and its people, and helped by her buying a home and saying she would spend time there. The media was also impressed at how passionate Lara's fans appeared to be, both in Canada and around the world. It would be fair to say that she seemed to have succeeded in removing the last vestiges of anger that the Canadian public had felt when she moved back to Europe. When asked, she said she now considered herself a citizen of the world, but most of all Canadian, whose passport she carried. All in all, this aspect was a great success.
It was also reported that Lara was finishing her Italian album. She mentioned that it would not have any of her old songs, since Rick Allison refused to give her permission to translate them into Italian. At the same time Lara announced plans to go to Nepal in May, in conjunction with the charity AMTM.
Obviously weary of interacting with fans, Lara's father hired an assistant, Eve, to take charge of official communications. As we know in retrospect, this did not lead to any improvement in 'customer relations'. The official site did open an "Italian section", in preparation for Lara's expected "Italian" venture, and even a covert "Spanish section", there but not publicized.
Also in retrospect, we know that Lara became pregnant this month, although we don't know whether she knew it yet.
March found Lara beginning her foray into the Italian market. Despite some early missed performances (for pregnancy-related issues?), this too proved to be a great success. Lara appeared with Gigi d'Alesso at the San Remo festival and several other venues, and she received great reviews. Gigi's legion of fans seemed to have adopted Lara, and together with her own fans, bombarded the web with glowing notices. For those Italians seeing Lara for the first time, it must have been a revelation - a great singer and lively personality speaking flawless Italian. And when asked, she said she considered herself Italian (Sicillian), which only served to heighten her appeal.
Lara however had to leave Italy after only about 10 days to join the "Night of the Proms" tour, with which she stayed for the rest of the month. It provided her the opportunity to sing different types of songs with different people; we know from videos of her performance that she excelled in that environment. Lara has said that her musical tastes are very eclectic, and she proved that, singing songs such as "I'm So Excited" (an 80's disco hit). She also showed she could still sing "Adagio" and hit the high notes. The tour covered both France and Belgium; and in Belgium, Lara was referred to as 'their native daughter' (giving her three home countries in less than two months!). She even sang in Flanders, where despite her great international fame, she was apparently practically unknown.
Also during this month, it was indicated that Lara had been named 'Chairwoman' for the AMTM charity, and more details were released about her upcoming trip to Nepal in May.
In April, the official video for "Un Cuore Malato", Lara's duet with Gigi was released, and it was very flattering to her; it appeared that she had regained the 'sexiness' she had displayed back in the days of "I Will Love Again", and which seemed to have been subsumed for the French market. The single of that song hit #1 on Radio Europe, and a half Italian/half French version of it was produced ("Un Coeur Blesse"), as part of a push to introduce Gigi to the French.
Lara actually spent almost the whole month in Canada. She apparently continued working on her new home, appeared at media events (including the promo for the first album of Marc-Andre Fortin), was the subject of various press interviews; she ended the month by reopening the Olympia Theatre of Montreal with two very well-received concerts. She also announced that she was preparing a mini-tour which would include shows in Portugal, Russia, Turkey and Algeria. The only negative note was the continued deterioration of her relationship with her 'forever friend' Rick Allison, as they exchanged law suits over use of their old songs.
During this time Lara announced the cancellation of her trip to Nepal, scheduled for May. The official reason was that her recent success in Italy suggested she take advantage of that interest to pursue the Italian market, and therefore couldn't afford to be away. In retrospect one wonders whether it was the result of her learning of her pregnancy, since as it turned out, there were no publicized trips to Italy during the time of her scheduled Nepal visit.
May began on a sad note, with the death of Gregory LeMarchal from cystic fibrosis. Lara indicated they had been very close friends, and did not appear on the tribute program that French TV devoted to him, preferring to keep her feelings to herself.
Lara did give her concert in Lisbon at the beginning of the month as scheduled, but it was not very well-received. She indicated that smoke in the air (smoking was allowed) had caused her throat to close, forcing her to skip some 5 songs - in addition, the repertoire was apparently all in French, inappropriate for the audience.
For the rest of the month, Lara appeared at a charity event in Switzerland, but missed several Belgian and French TV programs where she was expected to attend (although they had never been listed on the official site); speculation arose as to whether she was having health problems (which as we now know was not that far from the truth). However, she did give a major concert in Russia near month's end, and appeared in fine voice. The concert turned out to be a duplicate of the one she had given at the Casino de Paris for the AMTM charity the previous fall, featuring songs in all four of her languages (perhaps having learned from the Lisbon experience). And for both this and the concert in Portugal, Lara gave interviews in English, showing she still retains her ability in this language! She also indicated she is learning Russian, and hopes to sing in that language in future trips to that country.
Also of note, Lara attended the Molieres in mid-May (the French equivalent of the Tony's) honoring theatrical productions. This was advertised as Lara's entry into that world; however, nothing further was said about the theatre production that had been scheduled to begin rehearsals in July. In addition, it became obvious that the Italian album would not be out in the spring, so a fall release was now suggested. The delay was indicated as being due to Rick Allison's intransigence.
In June, Lara joined Gigi in several TV appearances aimed at easing his entry into the French market. "Un Coeur Blesse" was released in France, as was the official video. Meanwhile in Italy, Gigi's album "Made in Italy", which featured their duet, went to number 1. However, she did not appear at several other events where she was expected (the official site had never listed them, but then they hadn't listed several others at which she did appear). Lara, at the last moment, also cancelled her appearance in Algiers in mid-June for 'health-related' issues (as we now know likely associated with her pregnancy - but it is not inconceivable that safety concerns also played a role). It was supposed to be rescheduled, but never was. Similarly, the concert in Turkey was quietly dropped from future consideration. Highlights included her appearances on the show "Bonnie and Clyde" and "Tubes des Tubes" (the latter didn't actually air until the following month). Lara also traveled to Italy to perform with Gigi at Catane, in Sicily, which must have been quite rewarding for her.
July was dominated by the official news of Lara's pregnancy, with Gerard Pullicino the father (he had been granted a divorce at the beginning of the year). As we know, Lara's hand was forced by several magazines that had taken pictures of her being noticeably pregnant. She then came forth with an announcement on her website. [When her appearances on 'Tubes des Tubes' and at Catane were broadcast, her condition was obvious; clearly she had to expect that people would notice.] The issue proved a difficult one to handle for the official site as well as other web sites affiliated with Lara; this subject obviously concerned her 'personal life' which was supposed to be 'out-of-bounds', yet they couldn't avoid talking about it. The administrators of these sites concluded that this was a 'one-time exception' - but their ability to enforce that came into question numerous times during the rest of the year.
Lara mostly stayed out of sight this month, but towards the end of it she went to Morocco to appear at the "Maghreb Star Academy". While in Russia, Lara had mentioned that she participated in these 'Star Academy' shows because she so wanted to help the younger singers who were just starting out. Therefore it's not surprising that she would make the effort to travel and perform for them, even though she was now 5 months pregnant. [It also didn't hurt that the show was directed by Girard.] Her performance of "Aime" on this program was arguably her best ever - so the pregnancy did not appear to be disagreeing with her.
In August, normally a slow month in the French-speaking world, for Lara in her condition it was slower still. She apparently took a vacation in southern Spain, then moved into a hotel in Paris (in retrospect, this was most likely to provide Gerard a home base for his career). The singles of "Un Cuore Malato" and/or "Un Coeur Blesse" continued to sell well over the summer, especially in Belgium and Italy. It appears she also spent much of this month (and even possibly part of July) in Canada, where Gerard was working with a Canadian artist (Chantal Chamandy).
September brought an unexpected return to the limelight for Lara, not totally positive. Instead of simply relaxing and waiting for the baby to be born, while in Canada Lara's energy burst forth and she gave several interviews. She again showed her great enthusiasm for the Canadian people, but at the same time, expressed horror at being thought of as a French woman. This produced a display of real anger on the part of some of her French fans; Lara tried to soothe their feelings with a message on her website (although she didn't apologize), but her repeated comments to this effect have to have taken a toll.
In that message, Lara also indicated how happy she felt during her pregnancy; it was, after all, a life-time dream coming true. She further noted that she was working on a project with Matt Herkovitz (with whom she just recently had collaborated on a release of "I Loves You Porgy"). The theatre production was said to be still in the works but delayed until after the baby was born; the Italian album was not mentioned. Lara did get some good news, as her DVD was nominated for a "Felix" award in Canada (it did not ultimately win, but just the recognition was another sign of her rapprochement with the Canadian music world).
At the end of the month, another bout of bad publicity arose. Responding to the requests of fans asking what they could buy for the forthcoming child, Lara's team indicated that people should send money (cash, not checks) so that Lara could buy a 'better gift' than the fans would have gotten. It turns out that this turn of phrase was coined by "Eve" (Pierre's replacement in charge of the website), but there is no doubt that the decision had been made by Lara and her people, as her father supported it.
In early October, newspapers got wind of this request, and Lara was held up to ridicule as a greedy, self-centered diva taking advantage of a loving public. We know that is not an accurate characterization of her - Lara appears to be very generous with her time, and has certainly chosen not to maximize her income by doing "low common denominator" work. And the idea of combining the different sources to obtain a gift too expensive for individual members was not a bad one, just presented in a clumsy manner. But what does ring true is the lack of respect that her organization appears to have for the fans (as continually indicated by their responses - or lack of them - to questions on the web site). The newspapers also made fun of Lara's apparent intimacy with her public, focusing on the brief descriptions of her physical and mental state during pregnancy she provided in her website messages. While the criticism seemed to invoke at least a temporary improvement in Lara's teams' courtesy (they now said individual gifts would be acceptable, for example), the ridicule also seemed to have made her shy away from giving out any more personal information. Lara's subsequent messages on the official site, and even her quarterly magazine, made no further mention of the pregnancy. And this reticence would come to have its own consequences.
Confusion arose this month concerning when the birth was expected. Lara had said in October; Eve on the official site said mid-November. This confusion would also have ramifications later on.
Lara did make a public appearance in mid-month, joining Gigi d'Alessio on stage for his appearance at the Olympia in Paris. His performance was also being televised live on Italian TV, so Lara was featured there too. She had often indicated during the year how much she likes Gigi, and going out of her way to appear with him even at this late stage of pregnancy is just another indication of that. At this time she was also the subject of articles in several different publications, describing how happy her pregnancy had been; at the very least, these allowed her to get her name in the news in a more positive fashion.
As November began, Lara took the opportunity to defend herself in "Voici" concerning the request for baby-present money - saying she had not seen Eve's offending message, and "didn't recognize herself in it". It's probably too much to hope that she will learn from this that a professional public relations team would help avoid these problems.
November 20th brought the event that Lara had longed for her whole life - her daughter (given the name of "Lou") was born. From what we can put together, the child was some 10 days overdue, and the birth may have had to be induced, but it all seemed to end well.
Although paling in comparison, even this wonderful occurrence was plagued by public relation snafus. When Lara went into the hospital for tests on November 15, for whatever treason, the Belgian newspapers indicated the baby had been born. None of Lara's people made any effort to correct the false reports, so the news went around the world (and was then published in France, Canada, etc.). Fans noted that the official site was mum about it, and worried something had gone wrong; in response, Eve simply removed their posts. It took the singer Maurane (Lara's close friend) to inform the public of the error some days later. Then when the baby actually was born, 5 days further on, again it was Maurane who made the announcement, and it took Lara's people two more days to confirm it. Even their admittance of the birth was as succinct as possible. It may be that having been burned about being too forthcoming, Lara's 'people' made the decision to say as little as possible - which kept both the fans and the press wondering (and worried). Subsequently they have said nothing about the baby, or made any pictures available.
In Lara's message on her site, posted earlier in November, she indicated that she was "writing and reflecting" on her next release, and "it will not be quite what one expects" of her. While saying this, she made no mention of the Italian album, or even the multilingual album, which at various times during the year Lara suggested was being recorded in the U.S.
December was Lara's first full month with her new child, which obviously absorbed her time and attention. Yet she still seems to have made several trips - perhaps to Turkey, for a business meeting, and also to Paris with Gerard - so she is gradually emerging back into the public world. It was reported that she sent a new song to radio stations to be broadcast starting in the new year, content still to be revealed. It has also been reported that she has cancelled her theatre acting role. Lara's flirtation with acting in movies also has not yet produced anything concrete - she reported during the year that she was considering a role as a 'profiler' in an American movie, and she apparently turned down another role in a French movie.
In summary, 2007 may well go down as the happiest year in Lara's life with the birth of her daughter. Professionally, the positives included fine receptions in Canada and Italy for her brief appearances there; her collaboration with Gigi d'Alessio; some excellent TV appearances; and her usual high quality concerts (although much fewer in number than in the previous two years). In that sense, we are lucky that she was with us, singing. On the negative side, her attempt to expand her entertainment horizons, with musical releases in other languages, or by becoming an actress, appear to have been stymied. Her pregnancy probably contributed to that, but it's not clear how much would have happened without it. There was no album released this year for the first time since 2000. We shall see how many of the unrealized projects come to fruition in 2008 - and if another child is on the horizon.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
With this in mind, here are three New Year's resolutions for Lara, offered free of charge:
• Hire a public relations firm and listen to them
• Recognize and explicitly include uncertainty when discussing future plans
• Try not to bite the French hand that feeds you
If she were to listen to these, it is safe to say that she would not be the Lara we all know and love!
Happy New Year to everybody, and may 2008 be a healthy, happy and productive year for Lara, her family, and all of you!
David