Roch Voisine: The rise, spotlight on the Rochmania madness of the 1990s

Very shy, even secretive, the artist Roch Voisine, originally from Edmundston, New Brunswick, reveals several aspects of his personal life in the new documentary Roch Voisine : L’ascension.

The work also explores the period of Roch Voisine’s career called la Rochmaniain the early 1990s, and the impact his songs and shows had on his many admirers.

The producer of the documentary, Isabelle Viviers, notes that the documentary was initially intended to follow the Hélène 35 tour which was to take place from April 2024 in France, Belgium and Quebec.

However, the singer’s health decided otherwise. He caught strep which led to an ear infection, forcing him to postpone his tour which marked the 35th anniversary of the landmark album for six months.

It’s something really very serious, he could have lost his hearing. For a singer, if you can’t hear, you can’t singexplains Ms. Viviers.

These difficulties thus extended the period of filming of the documentary and made it possible to show a more intimate side of the artist. The more time we spent with him, the more he opened upexplains Isabelle Viviers. It was still quite natural, […] he did not censor himself.

Roch Voisine returns, for example, to false rumors concerning an intimate relationship that he would have had with a hockey player, Stéphane Richer.

La Rochmania

The documentary also explores Rochmania. In 1989, when the album was released Helenethe singer enjoyed dazzling success. At one show, for example, 385 girls fell unconscious due to hyperventilation.

At one point, he left a Virgin Megastore in Paris and he had to stay for an hour: there were between 300 and 400 people around the car and it was impossible to movealso says Ms. Viviers.

Isabelle Viviers specifies that it is important to place ourselves in the context of the time. There weren’t really any yet, superstarsshe said, comparing it to Beatlemania. It was madness.

This madness still left its mark. Roch Voisine says he is considered a practically deaf person and has popped the ears during the Rochmania period.

People were shouting so much that they turned the sound monitors up loud like a big show rock. If you do this a hundred nights a year, there is sure to be irreparable damage.explains Isabelle Viviers.

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Despite everything, Roch Voisine always kept a cool head in this adventure, according to the producer, and he always knew how to create a clear barrier between personal and professional life.

Nature and his roots have always been extremely important for himsays the producer. He’s actually a Cartesian, Roch […] In all of this, he found his balance.

With information from Rush hour – Acadia