Viktor Lazlo - Canoë Rose / Pleurer Des Rivières (2004/2008)

Viktor Lazlo was born as Sonia Dronier on October 7th, 1960 in Lorient (France). Her mother was British (Granada island) and her father came from the Martinique. At four, she settled down in Belgium with her family. As she spoke perfect English and French, she studied at Mol's European school and learnt several languages: Dutch, German, Italian and Spanish. Furthermore, thanks to her heritage, she was also fluent in Creole. Her artistic vocation appeared during her youth: her parents noticed her promising skills, and as a matter of fact they allowed her to practice her two passions: violin and dance. At eleven, the young artist got noticed in a musical.
Sonia Dronier became a model in Brussels. Her presence and stylishness logically got remarked, her voice and musical sensitivity as well. Decided to spend her life doing music, Sonia Dronier became Viktor Lazlo - a direct reference to Michael Curtiz's motion picture 'Casablanca' (1942). Her first album, 'She' recorded in 1985, proposed glamorous and jazzy songs, for instance 'Backdoor Man', 'Sweet Soft and Lazy' and 'Put the Blame on Mame'. This disc encountered a huge success. Platinum in Belgium, more than 100 000 copies were sold in Germany and 60 000 in Japan. The extracts 'Pleurer des Rivières' (amazing cover of 'Cry me a river' by Julie London) and 'Canoë Rose' stood for thirteen weeks in the top 50.
Her voice's inherent charm is conductive to a soft atmosphere and mixed with a non-threatening sexuality, hence the credibility gained by her smooth jazz - quite rare for such a music style. The same smooth jazz that was on the verge with lounge and therefore positioned itself as a precursor of this particular genre. Internationally renowned, Viktor Lazlo toured the world, for instance in Canada, Japan, Italy and many more. The 'nomadic goddess' was thereafter hooked for many projects like theatre. Moreover, AMC released in 1999 a compilation in order to gather her very best songs. This album is 'Canoë Rose / Pleurer des rivières'.