Eva Avila

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Eva Avila

Background information
Birth name Eva Gougeon-Ávila
Also known as Eva le dragon
Born February 25, 1987 (1987-02-25) (age 21)
Origin Gatineau, Quebec, Canada
Genre(s) Pop/R&B
Occupation(s) Singer
Instrument(s) Singing
Years active 2006–present
Label(s) Sony-BMG (2006-Present)
Associated acts Ryan Malcolm, Kalan Porter, Melissa O'Neil, Brian Melo
Website Official Site

Eva Avila (born Eva Gougeon-Ávila, in Ottawa, Ontario, February 25, 1987) is a Canadian singer from Gatineau, Quebec who was the winner of the fourth season of Canadian Idol in 2006. She is the second female winner.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early Life

Avila's father introduced her to music[1] and she has been singing in public since the age of 2, and at the age of 9 was a winner on Homegrown Cafe, a talent show on CJOH-TV, in Ottawa. Her nickname, given by her family when she was a small child, is still Eva le dragon (English: Eva the dragon). Prior to Idol, she had been working as a postal clerk and a beauty consultant. She had also been a former winner of the Jeune Diva du Québec contest.[2] Avila also participated in another competition for a Quebec TV soap-opera aired on SRC called Virginie. She is fluent in French, English and Spanish, her father being from Peru.

[edit] Canadian Idol 2006

In early 2006, Avila auditioned for the fourth season of Canadian Idol in Ottawa. She advanced into the top 10, and then she made it to the final two of the competition. During the final show, hundreds of Avila's supporters were gathered at Gatineau City Hall while Canadian Idol crews were filming scenes occasionally during the show. Several local politicians such as Gatineau mayor Marc Bureau, Hull-Aylmer federal MP Marcel Proulx, as well as Hull provincial MNA Roch Cholette were in attendance.[3]. During the finale show, Judge Zack Werner said that Avila was the show's most obvious candidate for international stardom, but he thought Craig Sharpe would win the competition. However, on September 16, 2006, Eva Avila was crowned the as the fourth Canadian Idol winner, defeating Craig Sharpe by a margin of only 131,000 votes or 3%.[4] To date, she is one of only four singers from Quebec or Francophone Canada to crack the top ten and the first to win the event: Season one's Audrey de Montigny was the first to reach the top ten, Steffi DiDomenicantonio in season four and Khalila Glanville in season five.

[edit] Canadian Idol Performances

[edit] Post-Idol Career

[edit] 2006-2007: Somewhere Else

Eva Avila's Debut Album: Somewhere Else
Eva Avila's Debut Album: Somewhere Else

Hours after her victory, Avila signed with the Sony BMG record label and released her first single Meant to Fly, which debuted at number one on the Canadian singles chart, a position it held for nine weeks. On October 5, 2006, the CTV television network reported that Avila has signed a modelling contract with Ford Model.[5] Avila started the 2006 NHL season on October 4 when she performed the Canadian national anthem at the Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Ottawa Senators game. She performed the anthem again before another Battle of Ontario game at the Scotiabank Place on October 26 following an autograph session on the same afternoon at Gatineau's Les Galeries de Hull shopping centre.

Avila's debut album, Somewhere Else , was released on November 14, 2006.[6] and debuted at number 6 on the Canadian albums chart, selling 16,000 copies in its first week. The second single from the album, "I Owe It All To You",[7] peaked at number nine. On November 19, 2006, Avila performed the national anthem at the 94th Grey Cup game in Winnipeg. Eva and her Canadian Idol predecessor, Melissa O'Neil, were both nominated for the 2007 Juno Award for Best New Artist, but Tomi Swick won the award. The third and final single from Avila's album, Fallin' For You was released in April 2007 and peaked at number fifteen.

On March 26, 2007, eTalk confirmed that Avila would be the new face of Maybelline New York, making her the first Canadian to be a face for the brand. Also in 2007, she participated on the Hip Hop compilation "Les 40 Voleurs" with La Dynastie on the song "La Fausse Raison". Evila also recorded the song: "Canada (You're a Lifetime Journey)", the finale tune to the film "O Canada!" which is shown at the Canadian pavilion in Epcot in Orlando Florida.

[edit] Personal Life

On September 12, 2006, Avila and fellow Idol finalist Chad Doucette revealed that they had been dating for about three weeks, but had wanted to keep it private until the competition was over.[8]

[edit] Discography

Eva Avila discography
Releases
Studio albums 1
Singles 3
Music videos 2
B-sides 3
Tours 1


The following is a complete discography of every album and single released by Canadian pop/R&B artist Eva Avila.

[edit] Albums

Year Information Canada Sales and Certifications
2006 Somewhere Else
6
Canadian sales: 60,000

CRIA: Gold[9]

[edit] Singles

Year Song Canada Certification Album
2006 "Meant To Fly" 1 (9) 2xPlatinum (CRIA)[10] Somewhere Else
"I Owe It All To You" 9
2007 "Fallin' For You" 15

Other Recordings

  • "Canada (You're a Lifetime Journey)" (from Epcot's "O Canada" film at Walt Disney World)

Appeared On

  • Canadian Idol: Spotlights (August 2006)

[edit] Controversies

Prior to Canadian Idol, Avila sang several songs predominantly in French, including one that caused a stir the day immediately following her Idol victory. Gatineau TVA-affiliate station CHOT and newspaper Le Droit reported that a record company from Ottawa, Productions Vision Recordz, released a French song performed by local artist Kareem featuring Avila and titled Poursuivre mes rêves.

The song was inadvertently made available for sale on the Archambault Zik record company website. There will be an investigation. Avila mentioned that the songs done in the past were for her own pleasure and was unaware about the launch of the single with Kareem.

On September 16, 2006, a day prior to the public announcement of the Idol results, Sony BMG Music Entertainment began offering Avila's version of the first single, Meant to Fly, for sale on the website.[11] Although the page was subsequently blanked, the artwork for the single can currently be located within the image files of the webpage.[12] This occurrence led to many rumours regarding the winner of the competition.

Cholette and Proulx, two politicians that appeared at the Canadian Idol final published a full page newspaper ad to ask local residents to vote for Avila. This drew criticism from local residents, who claimed it was a waste of taxpayers' money. It was later ruled that the two politicians had to pay the costs.[13]

Avila's name was mentioned in the Outaouais Parti Québécois 2007 election platform [14] recognizing local culture, including Avila and Pierre Lapointe. After complaints from her record company, Sony, the party decided to remove her name.

[edit] References

  1. ^ LCN (September 18, 2006). Eva se remet de ses émotions!.
  2. ^ CTV News. Eva Avila takes Canadian Idol title by 3 % margin.
  3. ^ La Haye, Dominique. "Tous unis pour Eva (All united for Eva)", Le Droit, September 18, 2006, p. 2. 
  4. ^ CTV (September 17, 2006). Eva or Craig? Canadian Idol to crown champ tonight.
  5. ^ CNW Group (October 5, 2006). Exclusive: Canadian Idol Eva Avila Signs Modeling {sic} Contract.
  6. ^ Turcot, Geneviève (September 19, 2006). Eva Avila sortira un album en novembre.
  7. ^ Poirier, Dominique. "Eva: La vie après Canadian Idol (Eva: Life after Canadian Idol)", La Revue de Gatineau, November 1, 2006, p. 17. 
  8. ^ CTV News (September 12, 2006). Eva admits she's been dating Chad for three weeks.
  9. ^ Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA): Certification Results
  10. ^ Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA): Certification Results
  11. ^ EvaAvila.com. EvaAvila.com Eva Avila. Retrieved on 2007-03-31.
  12. ^ http://evaavila.com/images/packshot.jpg Evaavila.com Retrieved on 05-21-07
  13. ^ Duquette, Patrick. "Les politiciens montent dans le train d'Eva Avila (Politicians join the Eva Avila bandwagon)", Le Droit, September 9, 2006, p. 7. 
  14. ^ Radio-Canada Gatineau/Ottawa (March 9, 2007). Le P.Q. de l'Outaouais fait son mea-culpa.

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Melissa O'Neil
Canadian Idol
Winner

Season 4 (2006)
Succeeded by
Brian Melo
Languages