Local Soul Phenom Laura Gagnon Ready to Take on the World

Photo credit: Barb Francisco

Ottawa Life Magazine: Hello Laura! Tell us a little about your artist background and when you decided to do music as a career?

Laura Gagnon: I first started training at the age of 8. My mom (Barbra Ann Gagnon), and Dad,(Paul Gagnon) put me in singing lessons to help improve my speech and socials skills. I was born with a massive stutter. Turns out I was pretty good at that singing thing! I then proceeded to take piano lessons and ended up working and attaining my level 9 classical Royal Conservatory in Voice and Piano. I then decided to crossover into pop and R&B. I started working with indie underground Hip-Hop artists out of London Ontario at the age of 16. Wrote many hooks and helped arrange some of the music. I then hooked up with Elaine Overholt out of Toronto and took her masters performance class out of her studio called "Big Voice Studios". She coached some of the best in the industry so that's where I aimed to go. Now that I had all these tools, I started to write my own music and record my first full length album at 20. I decided to take a different route to write and perform my favourite kind of music.. Disney'esque theatrical pop. I wrote my first single called "Magic Horse" which then made it to online airplay "Texas and Beyond" with Lochlan Green. I then went on to release my second single "It's Hard" which was also was played on the program.

You moved here from London, ON. What made you make the shift to our nations capital?

Well! I moved mainly for love! ( insert love face emoji). I've lived in London Ontario for 17 years and was looking for a change of pace and fresh inspiration. I LOVE Europe and I find that Ottawa has that sort of old time feel with how they kept the building structures to their period time. I love feeling like I’ve been transported to a place where I can let my imagination run wild. Prior to moving to Ottawa I had a chance to check out the music scene and it seem to be thriving. The community was very welcoming and musicians were eager to help one another with projects or as simple as supporting everyone's shows. I am so happy and blessed to be a part of this community now. Big shout out to the Ottawa music scene for being the coolest musicians ever!

What are your thoughts on the state of the industry?

Coming from the end of the switch from record labels to DIY was a little tough… I grew up with write your music… get a record deal..find your "machine"…Print CDs…. Tour….etc. Now! with the DIY You need to be a jack of all trades! from Branding…booking your own tour.. shows creating your own business and taking control of your own destiny. That's EXCITING!

Tell us about your current endeavor and why now?

Sometimes when something isn't working you have re-access your plans and change things up to what will work. I've decided to take my career to the next level and form a band and go the R&B/POP route. I love the feeling of a band. Last time I did a band thing was 4 years ago. It's time to go back to that and base everything around the colour of mauve. Moody, but sexy and mysterious. I'm enjoying writing feel good music… that old R&B like "Monica & Brandy" or Alicia Keys with a dash of Gaga. Gaga has this sort of raw edginess about her which I adore! Alicia Keys has this laid back soul sista vibe, super chill. With this new arrangement of players and music I'm looking to play more festivals and theater rooms.

Tell us about the type of music you’ll be doing and when we can expect to hear it?

Sexy, Edgy, Cool. R&B/Pop. Plans to head into the studio to record my first single are set for April. It's hard starting a new brand and it can be expensive with video/photo shoots, graphic work, rehearsals and websites…etc. I've decided to do crowdfunding to help with this process, which will be up in the following week.