- Genre: Rock & Alternative
Serge Fiori's career is a strange one. After earning a stardom status in Quebec and France as the leader of the prog-folk group Harmonium in the mid-to-late ‘70s, he almost completely withdrew from the public side of the music business. With the exception of one solo album in 1986 and surprising collaborations around the same time, he has limited his work to film scores, advertisement jingles, and new-age meditation music. It seems he resurfaces for a short period of time once every decade.
Fiori grew up in the Italian part of Montreal and made his performing debut in the ballroom orchestra of his father George Fiori. At age 18 he was already earning his living as a professional musician, playing the songs of American folkies while beginning to write his own material. In 1972, a friend introduced him to Michel Normandeau who was looking for someone to write the music for a play. The project fell apart but the two struck a friendship and in 1973 they formed Harmonium. The group recorded three studio albums, adding members along the way to turn into a progressive rock group: Harmonium (1974), Si On Avait Besoin d'une Cinquième Saison (1975), and L'Heptade (1976). Each LP became highly influential in the development of Quebec rock and each intensified Serge Fiori's charisma as a frontman and songwriter. Unlike other Quebec songwriters, his lyrics had a universal appeal. L'Heptade in particular revealed interests in a cosmic consciousness and oriental mysticism similar to Yes' Jon Anderson.
Harmonium disbanded in 1978. Fiori immediately teamed up with Richard Séguin to record Deux Cents Nuits à l'Heure. This was also Séguin's first album apart from the group that brought him under the spotlight, Les Séguin. Most of the Harmonium musicians appeared on the 1978 LP and again on Neil Chotem's Live au El Casino (1979) which includes two new songs by Fiori. After that the singer disappeared from the public radar, moving to Los Angeles to study meditation, computer science, and composition.
He resurfaced in 1983 as a songwriter for other artists, namely Diane Dufresne and stand-up comic Yvon Deschamps. A year later he wrote and sung the theme song for the Montreal comedy festival Just for Laughs, which would became one of the biggest attractions of its kind in the world. Many saw in this collaboration something cynical, but the fact is that by 1984 the Zen-like, hippy Fiori of Harmonium fame had turned into an ‘80s businessman. His 1986 solo album contains all the flaws inherent to the cold production techniques of the era. He spent the 1990s writing film scores (André Forcier's Une Histoire Inventée in 1990, Roch Demers' Hathi in 2000) and TV music, making a short set of public appearances in 1995 to present Gayatri and Shiva, two CDs of new age music. ~ François Couture, All Music Guide
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