The Gatinoise always knew she would be a singer. From a very young age, she pushed the note behind the back of her father, Carlos, who made a career as a singer in various bars and bistros in Ottawa and the Outaouais.
At 16, pushed by those around her, she took part in the auditions for the first season of Canadian Idol. We in 2003. The experiment was not a success.
“For this first audition, I was only 16 years old,” she confides. It really didn’t go well, mainly due to too much nervousness and a lack of experience. I didn’t admit it at the time, but this failure left its mark. It damaged my ego as a young singer.”
A little reluctantly and once again encouraged by her family and friends, Eva tried her luck again during the auditions for the same competition, three years later, in 2006.
This time, with a little more experience, she landed her ticket to Toronto.
Life after Canadian Idol has been full of ups and downs for Eva Avila. (Simon Séguin-Bertrand/Archives Le Droit)
“From week to week, I go through the stages and find myself in the top-10. At that moment, I told myself that perhaps I had a chance of winning,” she admits during a discussion with the Coops de l’information.
The dream of glory and big stages seems more and more accessible and Eva feels like she can reach her goal. But there are a lot of sacrifices to make and the step is high for the young girl from Hull who, for the first time, finds herself alone in a large metropolis, in a very controlled environment where she is even told what to wear.
“During the two months that the competition lasted in Toronto, we were in a bubble,” she explains. I was stressed and my behaviors were not very good for me, especially when it came to eating. As the weeks went by, I was visibly melting. It wasn’t very healthy. On the other hand, I didn’t have time to worry about it since I was giving everything I had to see this adventure through to the end, since I was really starting to believe in my chances.”
The singer lived the first years of her career at high speed. (Archives)
At full speed
At 19, young Eva won the competition and at the same time became the Canadian Idol. The evening of her victory, in front of hundreds of thousands of viewers, she signed her first record contract with Sony BMG.
In this contract, it is specified that she will have to record at least five albums, but that Sony has the choice to withdraw its marbles if the adventure becomes unsuccessful for the multinational.
“Thanks to the effect of Canadian Idolmy first album, Somewhere Else, worked well. It was certified Gold, she recalls. But the second one was less well received and Sony decided to withdraw.”
But Eva Avila had tasted the life of star.
With Sony, she had an agent and a whole team who took care of her every desire. The bubble was just as airtight as that of Canadian Idol, without the restrictions of competition. She lived in a beautiful apartment in downtown Toronto. She participated in all the social evenings and took advantage of the vie de Nuit Toronto as much as she wanted.
A member of a modeling agency, she was also dressed from head to toe and was invited to all the fashion evenings in the Canadian metropolis.
The Wall Theater Experience team: Michel Bruno, Sylvain Auclair, Sébastien Lacombe, Meggie Lagacé, Eva Avila and Richard Petit (Robert Skinner/Archives La Presse)
Lowering
“As during Canadian Idol, I was 100% taken care of, she recalls. But it was also very destabilizing. I had been experiencing my first moments of solitude for several months. I felt like I was floating like in a dream, full of hope.”
It was during the first years of her career that she developed “certain bad habits”, as she herself admits. Alcohol has become the worst enemy of someone who describes herself as an obsessive-compulsive person.
“I started drinking regularly in 2008, when my second album was released. I was invited to all the industry parties and I took full advantage of this dazzling start to my career. I was a young adult, I had access to everything and alcohol was still there. I needed to numb myself and party.”
— Eva Avila
After the Toronto period and the end of the contract with Sony, it is in Montreal that Eva hopes to relaunch her career.
But nothing was going the way she wanted.
Gatineau resident Eva Avila performing. (Etienne Ranger/Archives Le Droit)
Dark thoughts and hospitalizations
Over the years and setbacks, Eva continued to take refuge in alcohol, which led her to extreme situations.
“There were several moments where I hit rock bottom. My addiction was gradual and insidious, she confides. I remember a moment when I had my first alarm, in 2010. I had just left Sony BMG and moved to Montreal. I wanted to work in French, but no doors opened. I went from disappointment to disappointment. I was starting to lack motivation and that’s when the downfall began. I was going in circles, the bank account was crumbling, the loneliness and boredom were hitting. I started drinking, alone, at home.”
From one relapse to another, Eva struggled to find solutions.
“I have often wondered if Canadian Idol had been the trigger for this chain of depressions, she wonders. I drank more and lost control. But it was the springboard that propelled me and without this competition, I certainly would not have had the chance to sing as the opening act for Beyoncé or at the Vancouver Olympic Games.”
The relation between Canadian Idol and her addiction often comes to the forefront of the singer’s mind.
“If I hadn’t done Canadian Idol, did I have this bad relationship with alcohol? I’ll never know, but I feel like I have this personality that is predisposed to developing addictions. And who knows, because of the madness surrounding Canadian Idol, It may have accelerated my descent and my addiction. But I couldn’t say that clearly.”
This heavy addiction to alcohol led Eva Avila to some very dark places.
“In my late twenties, I was at the end of the addiction spectrum,” she admits. I had physical problems due to my drinking. I was hospitalized four times for overdoses of alcohol between 2013 and 2015. I even had psychoses due to my consumption. I have had many blackouts. There are events and conversations that I have no memory of.”
During her moments of lucidity, dark thoughts began to arise, which probably rang alarm bells in Eva’s mind.
“After my last hospitalization, things completely degenerated,” she says. I was in Hong Kong for a hotel contract. They fired me because I was completely out of control. I came back to Quebec and did a retreat in Granby, it was in 2016. It helped me a lot. »
But the Gatinoise was not out of the woods.
“In 2017, I thought I was cured, that I could be a social drinker,” she says. But I think I had to go and test myself one last time. And it didn’t work. The last time I let it go was December 13, 2017. As of this date, I have not touched alcohol again and I have no intention of going back to it. I’ve been sober for seven years!”
For several years, Eva Avila has been a member of the group Brit Floyd. (Archives)
The survivor
Over her years of sobriety, Eva has learned a lot about herself, but also about addiction and the effects of alcohol on the human body.
“You know, I don’t believe in regrets in life. I rather believe in lessons and the ones I learned in these long moments of depression and darkness now make the woman I am. Today, I have regained control of my life and I see it without the fog of alcohol. My insecurities resurface from time to time, but the difference is that I have nothing to numb it. And I can count on guardian angels who help me get through these moments of doubt.”
At 37, Eva Avila sees herself as a survivor.
“I tasted this darkness and I can say that today, the greatest gift that sobriety gives me is that I see clearly. Everything I feel, I feel cold and I have control over it.”
— Eva Avila
“In the beautiful moments of my life and the less pleasant ones, I am present and I savor them to the fullest,” she continues. My passion is music. Being on stage is all I want. And now, I have a new life mission which is to bring this message to as many people as possible.”
Since 2017, Eva Avila has been part of the Brit Floyd tribute group which performs on all the major stages around the world. Alongside her musical career, Eva has an acting career. Recently, she was seen in The Last Jaguara film for the whole family.
“I want to put more time into my acting career, it’s a world that I love and which offers me a lot of challenges.”
