Valerie Crete
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been playing with a guitarist only in recent years. The singer said that if she could find places where she could bring a full band as well as great musicians to accompany her, she would love to work with them.
Crete tried, at one point, to build a professional career. In 2011 when her CD came out she had quite a bit of success. She was invited to a few big TV shows and performed at a lot of festivals and promoted her album in different events.
She would love to write songs but never came around to doing it.
“On my first album 8 songs out of 10 are stories about my life that a great writer, Marc Chabot wrote for me.(he often wrote songs for Richard Séguin and many popular French artists)” Crete said.
Then the year after, it became harder to get the attention and support she needed to pursue her career. It’s not easy to make it in Quebec, especially in country music where the market is saturated.
“I didn’t enjoy pushing my career as much and didn’t enjoy singing anymore. I needed a break and I also needed to think about who I was and what I really wanted. I was tired of paying to play music and having to justify why I was not making it in the professional music world” she clarified.
“That same year I found love and that gave me the push to take a break. I had been trying to make it for over 12 years. That decision was one of the hardest of my life. I was mourning the fact that I would never become famous” she added.
But letting go also came as a relief for Crete. She was now able to live and be happy with her husband without feeling the pressure to surpass herself, the weight of finding the necessary promotion, the obligation of being at her best at all times.
“I started enjoying singing all over again. My voice even changed and got better as the stress left my body and my mind. Now at 38, I still dream about becoming famous again... but just in my dreams. I enjoy being free and spending time with my husband and his kids.”
Her husband supported her decision to go back to school in 2014. Her first plan was to become a country music star but it didn’t work out quite like she wanted to. She had another plan - to work in a field where she would be helping people.
“I was first looking at psychology. But then after studying a year in social work and psychology, I felt that my values and the social work values were the same, so I decided to pursue a degree in social work. I graduated on April 18, 2019 and I am now working at the Coaticook Hospital. I feel I’m in the right place now as a social worker.”
She feels good to just go out and sing here and there and make people happy and then go back home without the added pressure. “Although I always wanted to play guitar, I have never learned it. I play a bit of drums and harmonica but just for fun. I am far from being very good at it. I promised myself that I was going to take guitar lessons now that I am done with school and have a steady job.”
You can catch Crete at these events this summer: On June 8th, she will be performing at the Country Music Appreciation Jam at the Burroughs Falls Dance Hall at 1:00 p.m., June 15th, at the Ayer’s Cliff Rodeo where she will open for Road Hammers at 6 p.m. and on June 22nd at the country festival in Coaticook. She will also perform at the Auberge Ayer’s Cliff on the terrace (see their website for dates). Don’t miss the chance to hear her, she is that good.