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Lydia Lawrence: zouk singer known as 'la diva de Saint-Martin'

Zouk singer Lydia Lawrence, who grew up in Quartier d'Orléans, released Sugar Lady in 1997, worked with Jacob Desvarieux and Zouk Machine, and founded the charity Une lumière pour les îles after Hurricane Irma.

By SXM Daily ·

Lydia Lawrence is a St. Martin-born zouk singer, known as "la diva de Saint-Martin", who grew up in Quartier d'Orléans on the French side. She is known for her work with Jacob Desvarieux, the group Zouk Machine and Patrick Sébastien, and for her 1997 debut album Sugar Lady. After Hurricane Irma she founded the charity Une lumière pour les îles.

Illustrative: the Catholic church in Quartier d'Orléans, Saint-Martin

Illustrative photo: Edgar El, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Career

Lawrence moved to Paris at 24, where she met Desvarieux, Soualiga Post reported. Zouk Machine sang backing vocals on her debut album, Sugar Lady, released in 1997 on KP&P–Sonodisc, and she spent three years as the opening act for Patrick Sébastien. Soualiga Post says Sugar Lady sold 40,000 copies, and credits her with seven albums and five singles, a Caribbean Music Award in 1995, the title of Antilles artist of the year in 2010 and a 2002 cover of Annie Cordy's "Cho Cacao".

La Diva de Saint-Martin

In 2018 she launched a biography, La Diva de Saint-Martin, together with her CD "Mon Ile, Mon Paradis" at a book signing at the Rainbow Café in Grand Case, The Daily Herald reported. According to The Daily Herald, the book was written by her friend Vanina Raliterason from interviews with the singer.

Une lumière pour les îles

After Hurricane Irma she founded Une lumière pour les îles, which brings school supplies to St. Martin every year, according to Soualiga Post. The Daily Herald reported in 2018 that proceeds from the book and CD were being managed through the association. Her music sits alongside a French-side scene that includes Saint-Martin Carnival and the Saint-Martin Jazz Festival.

Sources

  • https://www.soualigapost.com/fr/actualite/49307/culture/lydia-lawrence-la-diva-saint-martinoise-aux-grandes-ambitions%C2%A0
  • https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/singer-lydia-lawrence-publishes-biography
  • https://www.karakosproductions.com/sonodisc/artist/lydia-lawrence/
  • https://www.qobuz.com/no-en/album/sugar-lady-lydia-lawrence/kikogp497wqga

Source: https://www.soualigapost.com/fr/actualite/49307/culture/lydia-lawrence-la-diva-saint-martinoise-aux-grandes-ambitions%C2%A0

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