Natasha St-Pier (born 10 February 1981) is a Canadian singer, songwriter and television presenter. She is of Acadian heritage, and grew up in the Saint John River valley of New Brunswick, but has spent most of her career in France. St-Pier represented France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2001 with the song "Je n'ai que mon âme" (English translation: "I have only my soul"), gaining fourth place from 23 entrants.
She began her professional career at a young age in Canada, bringing out her first single at the age of 12, followed by her first album (Émergence) in 1996, at the age of 15. Her theatrical experience includes roles in the musicals Notre-Dame de Paris (in Canada and the U.K) and Don Juan (Canada, 2012).
St-Pier has had considerable commercial success in francophone countries, including France, Canada, Belgium and Switzerland. She has also become popular in a number of other countries, including Spain, Poland, Russia, Turkey and Japan. Her Eurovision song ("Je n'ai que mon âme") reached second position on the charts in France and Belgium when released as a single in 2001. In the following year, her single "Tu trouveras" ('You will find') reached position no. 3 in France and Belgium, and position no. 1 in Quebec. In 2006, her single "Un ange frappe à ma porte" ('An angel is knocking at my door') reached no. 1 in Belgium and no. 2 in France. In France, her album De l'amour le mieux (2002) was certified double platinum, while L'instant d'après (2003) and Longueur d'ondes (2006) were certified platinum and gold respectively.
In interviews, Natasha St-Pier has spoken about the importance of her Catholic faith. Following the 2013 concept album Thérèse – Vivre d'amour (for which she recorded most of the tracks), St-Pier recorded two further albums focusing on Saint Thérèse of Lisieux: Aimer c'est tout donner (2018) and Croire (2020). Her following album - Jeanne (2022) - focused on Saint Joan of Arc.
St-Pier has appeared as a guest in a number of TV series. She was coach in the second and third season of The Voice Belgique (The Voice of Belgium). In 2024, she and her dancing partner were winners in the French TV series Danse avec les stars season 13.
Family background
Natasha St-Pier was born 10 February 1981 at Bathurst, New Brunswick (Canada). Together with her brother Jonathan, she grew up in Saint-Hilaire, New Brunswick, a small village in the valley of the Saint John River near Edmundston. Both of her parents are ethnically Acadian, and some of her ancestry comes from indigenous peoples of Canada. Her father, Mario Saint-Pierre, was a primary school teacher who became teacher in a prison for minors and later director of the prison. Later he worked in the Ministry of Justice and in public security. Her mother, Rose-Marie Bard was a nurse, before becoming director of a retirement home.
In April 2013, Natasha St-Pier stated during a broadcast of the radio programme Faites entrer l'invité (presented by Michel Drucker) that she is a cousin four times removed of Pope Pius X.
Early beginnings in Canada
At the age of 8 years, St-Pier took the stage for the first time, and began studying classical dance, modern jazz, piano and song. In 1992, she was spotted by Alain Morisod and invited to participate in the Sweet People Show, a program for young talents produced by a local television station in Quebec. The following year, at the age of 12, she became the youngest finalist in the singing competition Le pouvoir de la chanson. She was then invited by producers Regean and Michela Lacroix to sign her first recording contract with their Mi Re La label. In July 1995, she recorded her first single: "Le parcours du cœur", written to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Maurice Tanguay Foundation for underprivileged children. Subsequently, she concentrated her artistic efforts on singing.
In August 1996, she released her debut studio album in Canada, entitled Émergence, which she worked on with Steve Barakatt. She promoted the album with singles: “Il ne sait pas” and "Sans le savoir". After the release of the album, she broke her contract with her agents, which she explained by divergent perceptions of further artistic development. After parting company, she interrupted her career for less than three years. Negotiations between the two sides' lawyers over the broken contract lasted more than two years. Producer Guy Cloutier then offered St-Pier a partnership, in which he invested about one million Canadian dollars in the further development of her career.
In the late 1990s, during a tour in Quebec, she was offered the opportunity to replace Julie Zenatti in the role of Fleur-de-lys for the Canadian French-language production of Notre-Dame de Paris (directed by Luc Plamondon). In the same year, she completed her baccalaureate, majoring in the sciences since she wished to become a biologist. Thanks to her performance in the Canadian production, she was cast in the London production of the musical, where she sang the same role in English, starring alongside Tina Arena. In 2000, she recorded the song “My Heart If You Will Swear”, which was included in an album of songs from the show.
2000-2001: European breakthrough and the Eurovision Song Contest
Natasha St-Pier´s second album À chacun son histoire was initially released only in Canada (11 April 2000). The same year, she brought out three singles from the album (the title track, as well as "Et la fille danse" and "Tu m’envoles"). In the same year, she appeared as supporting act for the Québecois singer Garou at Olympia (Paris). Together with Florent Pagny, she recorded a cover version of the Jean-Jacques Goldman song "Là-bas"; the track appeared in Pagny's 2001 album 2 and later in St-Pier's own album De l'amour le mieux (2002).
St-Pier was chosen by the media network France 3 to represent France in the 2001 Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen, singing the power ballad "Je n'ai que mon âme". Music and lyrics for the song were written by Robert Goldman (as "Jill Kapler"), the brother of Jean-Jacques Goldman. St-Pier released the song as a single (30 April 2001) and added it to the European recording of the album À chacun son histoire (released 3 April 2001).
The single and video clip had been recorded only in French. Several days before the Eurovision Song Contest, St-Pier revealed in a media interview that she was undecided as to whether to use English or not in her performance of the song. On 12 May 2001, she performed the song under its French title, but sang the final verse in English, thus becoming the first French contestant to sing English lyrics. She received the maximum score of 12 points from three countries (Bosnia & Herzegovina, Portugal and Russia), gaining fourth place overall among the 23 participants. Her performance was the seventh time a French contestant had gained 4th place since the beginning of the competition, and was not again equalled until the second place gained by Barbara Pravi in 2021. After participating in the contest, she became the winner of several music industry awards in Canada and France, and toured internationally.
The single version of "Je n'ai que mon âme" reached no. 2 on the charts in France and Belgium, as well as fourth place in Quebec. St-Pier subsequently released an English version of the song: "All I Have Is My Soul". The album À chacun son histoire gained Gold certification in France.
2002-2007: Three hit albums
In 2002, her collaboration with Pascal Obispo on the album De l'amour le mieux propelled Natasha St-Pier to her greatest commercial success. The album was certified as double platinum status in France, and gold in Canada, Belgium and Switzerland. Three tracks from the album were released as singles ("Tu trouveras", "Nos rendez-vous" and "Alors on se raccroche".) All three singles reached the top 100 singles, and "Tu trouveras" was certified platinum in France and Belgium and no. 1 in Quebec. The success of the album made her a sensation…