Citation :Somewhere Else
Thu, March 15, 2007
Touring 2006 Canadian Idol champ and Juno nominee Eva Avila performs next week at Centennial Hall in support of her chart-topping debut CD.
By SUN MEDIA AND NEWS SERVICES
(Supplied photo)
There is no Idol off-season for Eva Avila.
The 2006 Canadian Idol champ has been busy this winter -- picking up a Juno nomination, turning 20 and touring to support her debut disc.
Her tour reaches Centennial Hall on Wednesday at 8 p.m.
Avila released her debut Somewhere Else (Sony BMG) in November of 2006 and the record immediately landed at No. 6 on the SoundScan Canadian Top 100 Chart.
"I miss performing in front of a live audience," she said before the tour. "It's been so long since I've had the chance to give a full-length performance. Now that I am going on the road to play all of these new songs with my incredible new (five-piece) band . . . I just can't wait to get on stage."
Last September, she won the fourth edition of the CTV pop vocal contest by beating Newfoundland and Labrador's Craig Sharpe by 130,000 votes -- a margin of 3.3 per cent in fan voting totalling about four million ballots. She's the second female Canadian Idol. The previous Idols -- Ryan Malcolm, Kalan Porter and 2005 winner, Melissa O'Neil -- have all made stops at Centennial Hall on their post-victory tours.
Avila left behind life as a postal clerk and beauty consultant.
A former winner of the provincial Jeune Diva du Quebec singing contest, her foray on Idol wasn't her first jaunt into the spotlight. Avila first sang publicly at three years old, growing up with a musician father who she describes as a one-man band.
Carlos Avila has been joining his Idol daughter on stage at some points on the tour. Some critics haven't been impressed, saying their duet on Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time doesn't work -- and his stagey, huggy, "Je t'aime," and her answer of, "Merci," must go.
Eva Avila still stays in touch with her roots in Quebec.
"I would love to start thinking about making a French record. That's just an idea of mine -- nothing is concrete yet or confirmed, but that's definitely something that's in the works because it's really important for me to make a French record in the near future," she says.
Avila has been visiting schools to praise music education.
"For my next album, I might be writing my own songs on my piano and playing, or whatever. So it all leads to something good. I just think it's so important to have (music education) in every school possible.
"It's just like physical education, which is good for your health and your mental health as well. Music is a great therapy and it's like food for the soul."
Featured writers on her debut include Chantal Kreviazuk with Meant to Fly and Lauper, who wrote and produced This Kind of Love.
It was produced by Rob Wells, who has worked with Backstreet Boys, Nick Lachey and Matt Dusk.
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What: Concert by Canadian Idol winner Eva Avila. Toronto singer George is also on the bill.
When: Wednesday, March 21, 8 p.m.
Where: Centennial Hall
Tickets: $29.50, plus applicable service charges; 519-672-1967 or visit
www.centennialhall. london.ca
source:
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/Today/Thurs ... 6-sun.html