When she lost the cheque for piano lessons as a child, the young Mélissa Laveaux set the course of her destiny. She would learn to teach herself music by ear and through books. Fortunately, her mother regularly listened to Brassens, Les Compagnons de la Chanson, Martha Jean-Claude or Haitian jazz while doing Mélissa’s hair. And her father, who dabbled in music, had the idea of giving her a second-hand guitar at the age of 13. In Ottawa, the Canadian capital where she grew up, surrounded by a Haitian family of teachers, Mélissa experimented with music. In her creative teens, she spent her time mixing recordings of songs on the radio. But she didn’t stop at music. Like her brothers and sisters, she wanted to complete her studies and aimed to work in the social field; at the same time, she felt the need to express herself artistically. "You can’t have one without the other. I need music to live and to live to inspire my music", she readily concedes through the wisdom acquired in her young 22 years. And she does both with incredible determination. As a student of "ethics and society" at the University of Ottawa, she performed now and again in a campus bar, and was encouraged by a percussionist to persevere. She ended up producing an album that she broadcast on myspace. At the start of 2007, Laurent Bizot from the French label "No format" discovered her and was captivated. Going to hear her live in Montreal, he signed her up right away. It could have been the beginning of a fairytale lifestyle. But with her feet firmly on the ground, Mélissa Laveaux preferred to continue her studies in Canada while recording her album in Paris.

Age: 22 I Passions: Music, social work, artistic creation, travelling I Philosophy in life: "Swan dive", a motto tattooed on her back meaning "dive in head first" I Goals: To savour everything in life while continuing to play music. I Favourite musicians and bands: Lhasa, Nina Simone, Adriana Calcanhotto, Martha Jean-Claude and Emiliana Torrini.