Danièle Dorice ( Angers; July 23, 1935 – March 12, 2018) was a Canadian singer and teacher of dance, staging and voice. She began her career as a singer in amateur shows in 1958 and went on to tour countries in Europe, the Far East and South America. Dorice also toured for the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...
(CBC) performing at
Canadian Armed Forces bases across the world and presented television programs on
Ici Radio-Canada Télé and
CTV Television Network. She also performed on American talk shows and founded the
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
-based artistic agency Les Productions Danièle Dorice Inc in 1971 before going on to teach there.
Personal life
Dorice was born on July 23, 1935, in
Quebec City
Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...
,
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
.
She was the daughter of Loretta LeClair and Roland Angers and had five siblings,
including her sister
Denyse Angé who is also a singer.
Dorice was married to William Anton Skerczak, with whom she had a daughter.
She died on March 12, 2018, from cancer in
Outremont, Quebec
Outremont is an affluent residential borough (''arrondissement'') of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It consists entirely of the former city on the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec. The neighbourhood is inhabited largely by fran ...
.
Dorice was given a funeral service at Mount Royal Funeral Complex four days later.
Career
While working as a secretary in Quebec City,
she began her career working as a singer in amateur shows in 1958,
winning the Miss Personality Canada contest and earning her a
screen test
A screen test is a method of determining the suitability of an actor or actress for performing on film or in a particular role. The performer is generally given a scene, or selected lines and actions, and instructed to perform in front of a came ...
with
The Rank Organisation
The Rank Organisation was a British entertainment conglomerate founded by industrialist J. Arthur Rank in April 1937. It quickly became the largest and most vertically integrated film company in the United Kingdom, owning production, distribut ...
in London, England.
Following that, Dorice made extensive tours of Europe, the Far East, the Orient and South America.
Upon returning to Canada in 1963, she performed in multiple cabarets and hotets before going overseas to tour eleven nations, such as France, Japan and the United States. Dorice conducted her first tour for the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...
(CBC) in 1965, visiting worldwide bases of the
Canadian Armed Forces,
so that she could entertain them.
In March 1966, her first single was released by Elysée.
Dorice presented the television program ''Comment allez-vous'' on the
Ici Radio-Canada Télé from May 1966 to 1967.
She went on to present the English-language program ''Le Caf' Conc'' between 1969 and 1970, on the
CTV Television Network affiliate
CFCF-TV
CFCF-DT (channel 12) is a television station in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, part of the CTV Television Network. It is owned and operated by network parent Bell Media alongside Noovo flagship CFJP-DT (channel 35). Both stations share studios at ...
.
On the show, Dorice performed weekly with a cabaret featuring "scantily-clad dancers, live singing, and an appreciative crowd" according to
CTV News
CTV News is the news division of the CTV Television Network in Canada. The name ''CTV News'' is also applied as the title of local and regional newscasts on the network's owned-and-operated stations (O&Os), which are closely tied to the national ...
.
She also made guest appearances on multiple programs on television and radio in Canada and the United States.
In 1970, Dorice performed on ''
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' was an American late-night talk show hosted by Johnny Carson on NBC, the third iteration of the ''Tonight Show'' franchise. The show debuted on October 1, 1962, and aired its final episode on May 22, ...
'' and also went on ''
The Carol Burnett Show
''The Carol Burnett Show'' is an American variety/sketch comedy television show that originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 279 episodes, and again with nine episodes in fall 1991. It starred Carol Burnett, Har ...
'' and ''
The Ed Sullivan Show
''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the '' CBS Sunday Night M ...
''.
She founded the
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
-based artistic agency Les Productions Danièle Dorice Inc in 1971, and began to administer a music hall school in 1974, where Dorice taught dance, staging and voice.
Dorice and her dance group Les Doricettes performed on cruise ships,
in hotels in Montreal and in Florida,
throughout the 1970s and the 1980s.
She recorded the LP ''Danièle Dorice, la joie de vivre'' in 1971,
and performed at the CBC Showcase '73 in the
Saskatchewan Centre of the Arts
The Conexus Arts Centre, known from 1970 till 2006 (and still largely known) as the Saskatchewan Centre of the Arts, is a theatre complex located within Wascana Centre in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, which largely replaces former theatres down ...
in May 1973.
Artistry
Dorice was able to perform in nine different languages,
including English, French, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Russian and Spanish.
Dan Lewis of
''The Record'' wrote that she did not speak the letter H in her vocabulary when she did not employ phonetic pronunciations.
Lewis also noted Dorice "offers each song with the exuberance of a gay French mademoiselle on a sprightly walk along the banks of the
Seine
)
, mouth_location = Le Havre/Honfleur
, mouth_coordinates =
, mouth_elevation =
, progression =
, river_system = Seine basin
, basin_size =
, tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle
, tributarie ...
, or along the
Champs Elysee" and that were was "typical French warble in her songs".
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dorice, Danièle
1935 births
2018 deaths
Singers from Quebec
Musicians from Quebec City
French-language singers of Canada
20th-century Canadian women singers
21st-century Canadian women singers
Canadian female dancers
20th-century Canadian educators
21st-century Canadian educators
Deaths from cancer in Quebec