Laure Pester life and biography

Laure Pester, professionally known as Lorie, is a French artist, often referred to as the "Britney Spears of France". It is thanks to producer, songwriter and composer Johnny Williams (grandson of 'musette' accordion star André Verchuren) and her father manager André Pester (a former studio manager at French radio station RTL) that Lorie is the star she is today.

Lorie is a multi-platinum songstress who has sold over eight million albums worldwide as of December 2007. Her first studio album “Près de toi” was certified triple platinum in France and she followed it with five other certified albums. It is expected that Lorie starts working on a new album, the follow-up to her 2007 record “2Lor en moi?” before the end of this year.

Lorie is also a comedian. She lent her voice for lots of French versions of international movies such as Stuart Little 2. She stars in the TF1 TV film De feu et de glace which will premiere this spring. She guest-starred as a Parisian Parisian model in the highly-successful soap opera The Young and the Restless.

She has also launched a clothing line, “Lorie”, only found in the Z stores in France. Her contract with Z was over early 2009.

Career
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2000-2001: First successes
When Lorie heard that producer Axel Brangeon was looking for a young girl that knows how to sing and dance, she immediately auditioned and won the contract. Lorie recorded “Près de moi”, written by Johnny Williams and Louis Element, which was rejected by every single record label. Williams uploads the song on a French website “peoplesound” and the song gets 15 000+ downloads in a matter of two months. Thereafter Epic Group Project of Sony Music France signs Lorie who is only eighteen. “Près de moi” was officially released in 2001, accompanied by a highly-popular music video. It was certified Platinum in France for over 500,000 copies sold. Its parent album “Près de toi”, released on October 30, 2001, becomes a triple Platinum recording in France for 1,000,000+ copies sold. The next singles “Je serai (ta meilleure amie)” and “Toute seule” were also certified Gold.

2002-2003: More successes
Tendrement, Lorie’s sophomore album, sees the light in 2002 with three commercially successful singles: J'ai besoin d'amour, À 20 ans and Sur un air Latino.

The album becomes as successful as “Près de toi” selling over a million copies in Europe. In April 2002, Lorie sings “Oser ses rêves” for the soundtrack of the Disney animation film “Cendrillon 2: Une vie de princesse” (the French edition of the Cinderella sequel) and lands her voice for the French version of the movie Stuart Little 2; she is the bird Margalo.

After touring for the promotion of her album, Lorie would release a book “Ma tournée” which sells 200,000+ copies becoming one of the most successful books ever written by a singer in France. Later, her debut album “Près de toi” would come back to the lights after its release in Japan with new tracks (English versions of her songs “Près de moi” and “Toute Seule”) including “Dans mes rêves” which was used in the Évian in which Lorie was starring. She also confirms her relationship with Filipino-American pop-star Billy Crawford.

In late 2003, Lorie’s first live album and music DVD come out, both entitled “Lorie Live Tour”, to great response. 2004-2006: Attitudes and Image change

Comes early 2004, “Attitudes” is already out and the singles “Week-end”, “La positive attitude” and “Ensorcelée” are big hits. The album becomes Platinum in France for over 600,000 sold copies. Lorie tours again to promote the album. The song “C’est plus fort que moi”, written by Jean-Jacques Goldman, was later released in order to support the “Week-End Tour”. in June, Lorie launched her very own clothing line, simply entitled “Lorie”, exclusively sold in the Z stores in France. Her contract with Z was over early 2009.

April 2005, Lorie’s first compilation album “Best Of” is released, including all her singles plus “Toi et moi”, “Les ventres ronds” (which was performed in the Week-End Tour) and the original version of “Quand tu danses”. The album was well-received but some critics noted that Lorie was way too young to release a “best-of” noting that Lorie was the youngest artist in the French history to release a Greatest Hits.

October 2005, Lorie released “Rester la même” (which means ‘Stay the same’), an album mixing various music influences including Zouk, RnB, pop and pop-dance. Lorie wants to change her image from squeaky-clean to boogie singer. The title track, featuring rap act Second Degré, was first released to see the people’s reaction which was generally positive but the song did not perform as well as expected. The following singles SOS (reggaeton version), Parti pour zouker and Fashion victim' (official but promotional single for her Live Tour 2006). Thanks to its 470,000+ copies sold, the album received a Platinum certification in France.

The same year, Lorie voices the character Violette in the French version of the Academy Award-winning animated film “Les Indestructibles”.

2007-2008: The metamorphosis
On November 26, 2007, Lorie’s fifth studio album 2lor en moi? is released; it is the songstress’ most mature album and it is clear that the album’s sound is influenced by Tecktonik, the then-new dance. The first single off of the album “Je vais vite” showcases Lorie’s musical and personal evolution. Its follow-up “Play”, featuring fiancé Garou, was a worldwide minor club hit. On October 3, 2008, Lorie started her “Le Tour 2Lor” which ended in December 2008 in order to promote the album. The last single from the album, “1 garçon”, officially released in December 2008, talks about homosexuality; the song and the video were harshly received from the French audience and in consequence, it flopped receiving very small play a bit here and there. However, the album was certified Gold for selling about 185,200+ copies as of November 2008.

“2lor en moi?” was also released on August 18, 2008 in Canada under Garou’s record lable, “Wolfgang Entertainment”. Lorie promoted the album in the bar “Time Supper Club” in Montreal the same day. Lorie also recorded “Heaven’s Table”, a critically-acclaimed duet with Garou for his latest album. In June 2008, Lorie wanted to try something new: acting. She stars as a lonely and lost ice-skater in the TF1 TV movie “De feu et de glace”. TF1, satisfied with Lorie’s performance, ask her to guest-star as a Parisian model in the highly-successful French soap opera Les Feux de l'amour in October. According to Yo-Club, as of March 2009, Lorie has officially sold about 8,000,000 records worldwide.

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