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Biography
Jean Sébastien Lavoie (born July 15, 1978, in Montreal, Quebec) is a French Canadian singer who had his big break on the first edition of the francophonic hit music show based out of Paris called Nouvelle Star (patterned after the other Idol formats). Jean Sébastien was the only contestant from Quebec to make it into the top ten, as the show chose to no longer include Quebec in the audition process after the first season. It has been speculated that it was Lavoie's hailing from Quebec that might have been what prevented him from winning Nouvelle Star due to Quebec's geographical isolation from other francophonic territories, as well as its small population as a voting proportion. Jean Sébastien received his biggest accolodates from the audience and panel of judges after performing Queen's "We Are the Champions," and after finishing third in the competition Lavoie released his own version of the song as his first single. Lavoie's version of Queen's "We Are the Champions" cracked the top ten in ringtone sales across Europe in 2004. Jean Sébastien has recorded two albums since Nouvelle Star which were both produced by BMG France, and still calls Montreal home