Picture: Julien Cauvin
After opening for Céline Dion at the O2 Arena in 2017, vocal impressionist Véronic DiCaire is bringing her Las Vegas show Véronic Voices to London’s Hippodrome Casino on 12 and 13 March 2018.
Co-produced by Dion, Véronic Voices debuted in 2013 at the Jubilee Theater at Bally’s Las Vegas to critical acclaim, with Véronic winning Best Impersonator and Best Singing Show at the Best of Las Vegas Awards in 2014.
Véronic has since embarked on a successful world tour, performing to packed performance halls and arenas in France, Belgium, Switzerland and Quebec.
How did you end up opening the show for Céline Dion?
They were looking for an opening act in Montreal for the world tour and I sent her a video and on that video I was imitating her, among a few other voices. After that they said: “Well, why not?” and they had me as their opening act in Montreal.
I did ten shows and after that she and her husband (René Angélil) decided to be my producers and from there we worked together. She produced my show in Las Vegas where I performed for almost three years. Last summer I ended up as a supporting act with her in London and her tour around England. I’m kind of like part of the family and I also wanted to meet the people here [UK] so it was a good opportunity for me.
How did she react to your impression of her?
Very well! She even tried to coach me backstage. She said: “Ok, when you’re doing this, it can go like that…” She told me I could push more with my imitation, especially when I sing ‘All By Myself’ She told me: “You go girl and don’t forget to pound your chest.” So it was quite funny and I couldn’t believe it, I thought: “Wait a minute, am I being coached by Céline Dion to imitate Céline Dion?”
In what way has she been involved in your show?
She came to the Vegas show and everything I was doing, according to her, was good. She said to me: “Who am I to give you advice on how to do shows here in Vegas?” I said: “Come on, you’re like the queen of Vegas!” She just told me to take care of my voice as it’s a tricky place and to just keep working.
She would ask me how my show was doing, she was quite involved in that way. Not so much in the creation, but more in asking how I was doing. If I asked for any advice, she was there to give it to me, it was quite precious for me.
How was the show received in Las Vegas?
Back in Vegas it went very well. The whole experience was fun, I was touring, and I’m still touring, in France, Switzerland and Belgium for the French market. I have been for around six or seven years now.
I tour with 27 people in my team so to go to Vegas and kind of start over somewhere new and feel that environment was great. All kinds of people from all around the world came to see me which was very interesting. Every time I was on stage in Vegas, I never took it for granted.
Do you change the show depending on where you’re performing?
Yes, I adapt the show to wherever I am. For instance, in France I do a French version of the show with French singers. When I perform my two shows on the 12 and 13 March at the Hippodrome, I will who comes and whether I should concentrate on the new voices or do the older singers.
I did that in my first shows in Paris, it was exactly the same, I performed in a small venue and I was kind of seeing who I should imitate, so it was just a test run for me and thank goodness because I was able to pinpoint certain voices that needed to be in the show, which voices people knew, and which not so well. It’s fun to do these shows to see what new voices I should integrate into the show.
When did you first realise you had a knack for impressions?
Back at home I’m a recording artist, I recorded two albums. For my second album, I did the impressions and people were coming to me and saying: “I love your stuff but your imitations are so funny.”
I realised that people were reacting more to my imitations than my own work. I wasn’t frustrated but I didn’t know what to do with that. Then I thought: “Wait a minute, they’re reacting to that,” and my husband who is also my manager said that he thought there was something there that I should try.
In 2008, when Céline asked me to be the opening act, as a singing impersonator, that was the perfect timing for me to try and work on my voice and to see where it was going to get me and I’ve never stopped since. I’ve been on lots of tours since then. You never know what life is going to bring you, it’s quite interesting. I never thought that I would travel the world with my imitations, I always thought that I would do that with my albums.
What is your favourite impression to do?
This is a hard question because it’s like asking a mum who is her favourite child. For me, I have to say Céline Dion of course because she was one of my first impressions to do. I also like voices like Tina Turner and Whitney Houston, voices that are very far from my voice.
The show is more like paying homage to the singers I’m imitating, so I love when I get to imitate people that are not with us anymore like Karen Carpenter, Edith Piaf and Amy Winehouse, I love to pay tribute to those singers. It’s hard to just choose one because they all have different baggage and the work to get there is so different from one voice to another.
Which impression was the hardest to master?
The hardest ones were Tina Turner and Barbra Streisand. I worked for so many months on Barbra Streisand because when I was trying to imitate her, it felt too much like a caricature, it felt like I was making fun of her and I didn’t want to do that. I respect her so much and I didn’t want people to be offended by my impression so I had to rework and rework and it took me a long time.
Also Tina Turner was very hard. One night I was rehearsing and I decided to get my highest heels to see if it would help me channel her voice and it totally did, see what high heels can do to a voice!
It’s not just the voices you have to get right, it’s their body language and mannerisms too…
I find that I have to do research like an actor would do for a character. You have to study not only their voice but how they stand on stage, how they are physically singing that song, so I try very hard to imitate that too.
Other than Céline Dion, have you ever heard from anyone you impersonate?
A lot of French singers because I’ve been touring there a lot. Fellow Canadian, Shania Twain, who came to see the show in Vegas, she loved it, she said it was funny because it was like an out-of-body experience. It’s weird because you can be accurate about things that they don’t necessarily like but understand so there’s a mixed feeling.
It’s very interesting to talk to singers because some will say: “Oh my God, that was right on” and some say “Oh, yes you’re right! I do remember doing that,” or “Am I that loud?” “Do I sing that much through my nose?” It’s very funny.
Is there any voice that you don’t do now that you would like to be able to do?
I don’t think I would risk imitating singers like Nicki Minaj, it’s too hard. Maybe I could do a parody but maybe not an accurate imitation of Nicki Minaj or any rappers.
Will you be singing any songs as yourself?
I’m having so much fun right now doing imitations. It’s just fun to bring people into your world and make them laugh, to touch them. It’s like a rollercoaster of emotions, so you can laugh but you will also be touched by singers who are no longer with us, and there are so many different singers that can please everybody, I think. It’s a fun show to do and I’m having so much fun that I think my own voice will come later when I won’t be able to dance like Lady Gaga or Madonna. When I’m too old to do that, maybe I’ll go back to my own voice.
You participated in France’s Dancing With the Stars, how does that experience compare to the kind of performances you’re used to doing?
It was so hard because it’s a completely different discipline, it’s a totally different art. In French we say “Danse Sportive” so it’s like a sport, it’s so demanding and you’re dancing with a partner, you’re not the leader. It’s not ‘your thing’ so it’s very stressful. You have to count, you have to smile, you have to think of your hands and you have to be aware of your dress or the costume you’re wearing. You have to know your steps but you depend on one another so it’s very challenging but I loved it.
I always respected that discipline so for me it was a dream come true to dance with a partner. I got to do things that I never imagined I would do, so I’m very happy with that, but it’s very far from what I do in shows.
Now I have four musicians, but normally on a bigger stage I have four dancers with me to reproduce Beyoncé’s work or Madonna and Lady Gaga routines, so we dance a lot in the show. But this time I’m going to dance alone.
You’re used to being the one on the stage so what made you decide to become an X Factor judge?
When I was a judge at X Factor, I think I had built up enough experience to share with them [the contestants], I love to share my experiences with others. I was coaching the boys and one of my boys was an English guy actually, who won. So it was really fun to have conversations with them about how they would sing their songs and guiding them to answer their own questions.
I loved it but, boy, was it an experience to fight for your boys and your team. I got to meet cool people like Jessie J, Lady Gaga and Beyoncé, and I got to perform too.
Such a varied career so far, what has been your highlight so far?
I think being able to be on the road and have a team of 27 people that are working with you to make it happen every night, I’m very proud of that. I think that is the highlight and going to all these different venues. I am very excited to start this new trip here in the UK, it’s a new adventure and I just can’t wait to bring my team with me on new tours around Scotland and England. For me, doing shows is what I’m good at and what I love to do.
I love to give to people and I love the fact that the people who are coming to my shows can forget the day-to-day world and they can relax and have fun. That’s my motto in life, I love to give, I love to make people happy, so I think that’s the main highlight of career.
* Véronic Voices plays at London’s Hippodrome Casino on 12 and 13 March 2018
* Véronic’s musical theatre credits include her portrayal of Sandy in the Quebecoise adaptation of Grease and Roxie Hart in the francophone production of Chicago – The Musical (having previously dubbed the singing voice of Renée Zellweger in the French version of the film).
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