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Eva Avila

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Eva Avila
Eva Avila in 2022
Eva Avila in 2022
Background information
Birth nameEva Gougeon-Ávila
Also known asEva Avila
Born (1987-02-25) 25 February 1987 (age 37)
Gatineau, Quebec, Canada
GenresPop/R&B
Occupation(s)Singer, actress
InstrumentVocals
Years active2006–present
LabelsSony Music Canada, E1 Entertainment Canada
Websitewww.EvaAvila.net

Eva Avila (born Eva Gougeon-Ávila on 25 February 1987) is a Canadian singer, songwriter and actress. She won the fourth season of the CTV reality show Canadian Idol in 2006.

Early life

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Avila was born in Gatineau, Quebec. Her father introduced her to music and singing.[1] She has been singing in public since age 2, and at age 9 was a winner on Homegrown Cafe, a talent show on CJOH-TV in Ottawa. Prior to Idol, she worked as a postal clerk and a beauty consultant. She is a former winner of the Jeune Diva du Québec contest.[2] Avila also participated in another competition for a Quebec TV téléroman aired on Radio-Canada called Virginie.

She speaks English, French and Spanish.

Her nickname, given by her family when she was a small child, is still Eva le dragon (Eva the dragon).

Career

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2006: Canadian Idol

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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 16 September 2006, Eva Avila was crowned 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 five 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, Khalila Glanville in season five and Katherine St-Laurent in season six.

Canadian Idol performances

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Week Theme Song sung Artist Status
Audition – "On My Own" Les Misérables Advanced
Top 22 Contestant's Choice "Angel" Sarah McLachlan Advanced
Top 18 Contestant's Choice "Killing Me Softly with His Song" Roberta Flack Advanced
Top 14 Contestant's Choice "Aint No Mountain High Enough" Marvin Gaye
Tammi Terrell 		Advanced
Top 10 Canadian Hits "Powerless (Say What You Want)" Nelly Furtado Safe
Top 9 The Rolling Stones "Wild Horses" Rolling Stones Safe
Top 8 Songs of the 1980s "White Wedding" Billy Idol Bottom 3
Top 7 Songs of classic rock "Who Wants to Live Forever?" Queen Safe
Top 6 Acoustic Music "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?" Prince Safe
Top 5 Songs of Country "Here You Come Again" Dolly Parton Bottom 2
Top 4 Judges' Choice "Would I Lie to You?"
"Old School Love" 		Eurythmics
Divine Brown 		Safe
Top 3 Pop Standards "God Bless the Child"
"They Can't Take That Away from Me" 		Billie Holiday
Fred Astaire 		Safe
Top 2 Idol's Favourite
Idol Single
Idol's Favourite 		"Wild Horses"
"Meant to Fly"
"How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?" 		Natasha Bedingfield
Eva Avila
Prince 		Won
Grand Finale Idol's Favourite "Powerless (Say What You Want)" Nelly Furtado Declared Winner

2006–07: Somewhere Else

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Avila in 2007

Hours after her victory, Avila signed with the Sony BMG Canada 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 a huge nine weeks. The single was eventually certified double platinum. On 5 October 2006, the CTV television network reported that Avila has signed a modelling contract with Ford Model.[5] Avila started the 2006 NHL season on 4 October 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 26 October 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 14 November 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 19 November 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 thirty-five.

2008–10: Give Me the Music

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On 26 March 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". Eva also recorded the song "Canada (You're a Lifetime Journey)," the finale tune to the film O Canada!, which was shown at the Canadian pavilion in Epcot in Orlando, Florida from 2007 through 2019.

Following the success of her debut album, Avila returned to the recording studio in Toronto to begin work on her second album. On 9 August 2008, she announced on Canada's eTalk that the first single to be taken from her second album would be called "Give Me The Music", composed by Matrax Production and written by Frankie Storm, Tee Marie a.k.a. Tanya Miller of (Tha Kopi Writz) and Shaun Johnson[8] and would be released on 2 September,[8] with the album of the same name following on 28 October.[9] She also stated that the record label, Sony BMG Canada were hoping to make the record her first American release. If the album was released and well received in America, Avila stated that she hoped to extend the album's supportive tour into the U.S. When released in Canada on 28 October, Eva's second album, Give Me the Music, hit the national albums chart at number 63, a surprisingly low debut considering the lead single had peaked at number 21 on the Canadian Hot 100. "Damned", the second single from the album debuted on the Hot 100 in January 2009 and peaked at number 83. In late March 2009, Avila was the support act for the four Canadian dates of Beyoncé Knowles' I Am... World Tour. She recently performed at the Virgin Festival 2009 in Montreal. She was the third act. She also performed at the 2010 Winter Olympics closing ceremony on 28 February 2010.

2011

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Eva Avila sang the National Anthem and performed at the halftime show at the Montreal Alouettes' home opener on 29 June 2011. She sang three songs, including "I Owe It All to You".

2013–present: Never Get Enough

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On 15 October 2013, Avila released "Bitter Meets Sweet", the first single from her EP Never Get Enough, released on 5 May 2015.[10]

In 2015, Avila recorded "Unidos Somos Mas", the Spanish language version of the theme song for the 2015 Pan American Games.[11] It was one of three versions of the song, alongside Serena Ryder's English-language "Together We Are One" and Jasmine Denham's French "Ensemble on est immense".

Avila is currently a vocalist in the Pink Floyd tribute band Brit Floyd.[12]

She has also had occasional television and film acting roles, most notably as Tania in the 2022 drama film Coyote.[13]

Personal life

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Eva Avila married Brit Floyd bandmate and guitarist Edo Scordo in May 2020.[14][15]

Discography

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Eva Avila discography
Studio albums2
Singles5
Music videos4
B-sides3
Miscellaneous2
Tours2

The following is a complete discography of every album and single released by Avila.

Albums

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Year Album details Peak Certifications
(sales threshold)
CAN
2006 Somewhere Else
  • Released: 14 November 2006
  • Label: Sony BMG
  • Format: CD, digital download
 6
2008 Give Me the Music
  • Released: 28 October 2008
  • Label: Sony BMG
  • Format: CD, digital download
 63
2015 Never Get Enough
  • Released: 5 May 2015
  • Label: Entertainment One Canada
  • Format: digital download
 —
"—" denotes releases that did not chart.

Singles

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Year Song CAN
[17] 		Certifications Album
2006 "Meant to Fly" 1 Somewhere Else
"I Owe It All to You" 9
2007 "Fallin' for You" 35
2008 "Give Me the Music" 21 Give Me the Music
2009 "Damned" 83
"No More Coming Back" —
2013 "Bitter Meets Sweet" — Never Get Enough
2015 "Unido somos mas" — non-album single
"—" denotes releases that did not chart.

Promotional singles

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  • "The Little Drummer Boy" (2012)

Other recordings

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

Appeared on

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Tours

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2007: Somewhere Else Tour
2009: I Am... World Tour (support act)

Filmography

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Controversies

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Cholette and Proulx, two politicians who 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.[19]

Avila's name was mentioned in the Outaouais Parti Québécois 2007 election platform[20] recognizing local culture, including Avila and Pierre Lapointe. After complaints from her record company, Sony BMG, the party decided to remove her name.[citation needed]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ LCN (18 September 2006). "Eva se remet de ses émotions!". Archived from the original on 20 August 2008. Retrieved 19 September 2006.
  2. ^ CTV News (17 September 2007). "Eva Avila takes Canadian Idol title by 3% margin". Archived from the original on 15 November 2007.
  3. ^ La Haye, Dominique (18 September 2006). "Tous unis pour Eva (All united for Eva)". Le Droit. p. 2.
  4. ^ "Eva or Craig? Canadian Idol to crown champ tonight". CTV. 17 September 2006. Archived from the original on 15 November 2007.
  5. ^ "Exclusive: Canadian Idol Eva Avila Signs Modeling Contract". CNW Group. 5 October 2006. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 5 October 2006.
  6. ^ Turcot, Geneviève (19 September 2006). "Eva Avila sortira un album en novembre". Cyberpresse (in French). Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 20 September 2006.
  7. ^ Poirier, Dominique (1 November 2006). "Eva: La vie après Canadian Idol" [Eva: Life after Canadian Idol]. La Revue de Gatineau. p. 17.
  8. ^ a b "Eva Avila Official site". Archived from the original on 6 September 2008. Retrieved 28 August 2008.
  9. ^ "Totally Eva Avila // Your Number One source for everything Eva Avila!". Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 28 August 2008.
  10. ^ "Never Get Enough | Eva Avila". Eva Avila. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  11. ^ "Listen to Eva Avila's Spanish version of the 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games official song" Archived 12 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine. CBC Music, 26 June 2015.
  12. ^ "Great Gig in the Sky-Benedum Center 04/21/2023-Brit Floyd Featuring the Soaring Vocals of Eva Avila". YouTube.
  13. ^ Charles-Henri Ramond, "Le coyote en première au TIFF". Films du Québec, 18 August 2022.
  14. ^ "Brit Floyd 2022 Tour – Interview with Edo Scordo". T-Mak World. 13 March 2022. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  15. ^ "Eva Avila – Husband and wife. Did this really happen???..." www.facebook.com. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  16. ^ a b https://musiccanada.com/GPSearchResult.aspx?st=&ica=False&sa=Eva%20Avila&sl=&smt=0&sat=-1&ssb=Artist[permanent dead link]
  17. ^ https://www.billboard.com/artist/eva-avila/chart-history/
  18. ^ Un premier grand rôle au cinéma pour Eva Avila, Le Journal de Montréal
  19. ^ Duquette, Patrick (9 September 2006). "Les politiciens montent dans le train d'Eva Avila (Politicians join the Eva Avila bandwagon)". Le Droit. p. 7.
  20. ^ Radio-Canada Gatineau/Ottawa (9 March 2007). "Le P.Q. de l'Outaouais fait son mea-culpa". Archived from the original on 7 September 2012.
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