Music
Childhood Passion
I’m one of those “I’ve been singing since I can remember” people. I love to sing. Music has always been my happy place, even on – or especially on – my darkest days. As a kid, I’d spend hours in my bedroom, under the shower, or in my dad’s study singing. I’d spend evenings playing Spider on my dad’s PC and belting along to Celine Dion or Christina Aguilera CDs. We even had a karaoke machine which I used to record original songs on the blank tapes I’d find lying around the house (no idea where any of this incriminating material is today). In grade school, you could always count on me to take to the stage whenever there was a talent show or any event that required a musical performance. I quickly became known as “The Singer” among my peers, their parents, and school faculty.
The Name
The stage name of “M-Angel” was actually given to me by my older brother. Back in high school, he was my producer and would record me singing covers in his bedroom studio. One recording session, he asked me if I had an artist name. I shrugged. He threw a bunch of names out, and among the first was “M-Angel,” a derivative of my real name, Marie-Ange (which, fyi, means “Marie-Angel” in French). It resonated, so I kept it. I really didn’t give it more thought than that. Little did I know that I’d be carrying that name from then on. It’s funny how mundane pivotal moments in our lives can be.
Earlier Works
Like I said, as far as official recordings went, my first singles were the cringy songs I wrote and recorded on cassette tapes in middle school. Later in high school, I was part of the rap group Mic Être with a bunch of friends, as a singer. We recorded and performed a couple of songs at school. Good times… It was a short-lived experience.
Things became more official when my brother and I started working together. He was playing around with the idea of becoming a music producer (he wasn’t playing around with the equipment he purchased however) so having vocals to work with came in handy. He had many musically-inclined friends, musicians, rappers, beat makers, etc. In the period when I transitioned from high school to college, I was writing songs to the instrumentals my brother’s friends would provide and recording featurings on their tracks as well (home studios all day baby).
Dark Light
At the start of my 2nd year of college, I started dating this guy… Seeing as how music was sort of my life, his dormant interest was inevitably awoken and he got into music production. We ended up doing what most musically-inclined couples do: we started a band. In 2008, we formed Freedom of Speech. A couple of years later, we became Dark Light.
Dark Light released many dope tracks over the years and in 2015 dropped a little masterpiece called Loin de toi (French for “far from you”), a 20-track multi-genre album. As a self-taught videographer, I produced a few music videos for the band and even performed tracks live on stage. You can still catch our works on…
The Dance Break
Over time, managing, promoting, and being part of a band, all while maintaining a full-time day job, became taxing. I started to drift away from singing and opted for dance as a creative outlet.
In high school, my friends and I were part of a dance crew called “Juicy.” After grade school, the only place you’d catch me dancing was at the club. Dark Light gave me the opportunity to dance on the regular again. After performing a few shows with dancers from the MusiQon dance troop, I took classes with them before ultimately integrating the troop. We performed Hip-Hop and Afrobeat choreographies for a variety of events throughout Montreal. At some point, I sort of just… stopped singing.
The Reset
Long story short, I experienced a mental health crisis in 2017 that came with this strong need to sing again. I produced a couple of a capella covers independently (like “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees, that my lil bro and I made a music video for).
My mental health journey brought about major life changes, including the end of my 10-year relationship, and the end of Dark Light. It took me a few years before I started singing again. In 2022, I hit the stage again a couple of times, and the feedback was unanimously positive.
