Editorials & Opinion

Xtra’s Pick of the 80s

Another Wednesday, another Pick of the 80s. This time, Yassia goes back to 1988 to talk about the best-selling Belgian artist of all time… And she didn’t even represent Belgium!

Luxembourg 1988: Lara Fabian – Croire (4th place)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=80&v=syEkR-fMhdM
The Eurovision Song Contest 1988 took place in Dublin, hosted 21 participants and brought the world such amazing singers as Céline Dion who represented Switzerland (1st place) and Lara Fabian who represented Luxembourg. The contest opened new doors to both singers, but this pick of the 80s is devoted to the fabulous Lara Fabian and her song “Croire” (English title: “Trust”).
Lara Fabian’s first single “L’Aziza est en pleurs”/“Il y avait” was released 1986. As I have mentioned above, in 1988 half-Flemish half-Italian Lara Crokaert (Lara Fabian), who was just an 18 year-old girl at that time, was already representing Luxembourg at the 33rd Eurovision Song Contest. The touching ballad “Croire” has not gone unnoticed thanks to the charming and very powerful voice of Lara Fabian. The song also has English and German versions.
The lyrics of the song call people who have love in their hearts to believe even in those things that sound impossible. The writer of the song, Alain Garcia, tells us that if we look at life through our hearts, nobody can stop us from believing in the good.  Since Lara Fabian’s performance on the Eurovision stage, Luxembourg never ended in TOP 5 of the contest again.
As an artist, Lara Fabian gained tremendous popularity not only in Europe, but worldwide. Fabian mainly sings in French, English and Italian. In 1990, Fabian had her own music label, as well as publishing company (Productions Clandestines) in Canada. In 1991, the French-language debut album “Eponyme” of Lara Fabian, was released in Canada. The album went gold in 1993, and platinum in 1994. This album was followed by three famous albums (“Carpe diem” 1994; “Pure” 1997 and “Live” 1999) that also went platinum in a matter of only some weeks and brought Lara Fabian global popularity.
It is certainly worth saying that Lara Fabian has sold over 20 million records worldwide and is the best-selling Belgian female artist of all time.

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