Lloyd Brault, director of Celine Dion's production co.
Hyfler/Rosner
'He was a great teacher and a great leader,' former associate Donald Tarlton
says
SOURCE: The Montreal Gazette
BYLINE: BERNARD PERUSSE
Lloyd Brault, the director of Celine Dion's production company, CDA, died of
cancer last Friday. He was 54. Through most of his career, Brault was
associated with Donald K. Donald Productions.
Starting in the early 1970s as April Wine's road manager, Brault rose
through the ranks as production manager for big-name cross-country and
international tours, travelling over the years with the Rolling Stones, Pink
Floyd, U2 and the Bee Gees, among others. He began working full-time on
Dion's tours in the early '90s for Donald K. Donald, but when company
president Donald Tarlton left the promotion business for the recording
industry in 1998, Brault joined the singer's organization, handling all her
concerts, including world tours and her high-profile Las Vegas shows. Garou
and Marc Dupre are CDA's other major clients.
Brault's friends and business associates remembered a straight-shooting,
honest and insightful man yesterday.
Mario Lefebvre, vice-president of Dion and Rene Angelil's artist-management
company, Feeling Productions, said "the man had an amazing amount of
experience, but also something that you cannot buy: absolute impeccable
judgment."
Tarlton also praised Brault's organizational skills yesterday. "It's a funny
business: The audience goes to see the concert and the star comes out on
stage and takes all the bows, but behind him is this machine, an army of
people. Lloyd was like the general. He co-ordinated the crews of the band,
the crews of the venues and the promoters. He was a great teacher and a
great leader. If Lloyd was on the job, people breathed easier."
Publicist Sylvie Brunetta also used the word "teacher" when speaking of
Brault's knack for sharing his knowledge of the entertainment business.
"Whoever was lucky enough to be trained and educated by Lloyd Brault
achieved great things," Brunetta said. "The worst thing is that the younger
ones won't be able to pick up the phone to call him and say 'What do I do?'
anymore. We're really heartbroken."
Aldo Giampaolo of Gillett Entertainment Group was the operations
vice-president of the Forum when he met Brault in 1986. "He handled a
worldwide tour with Celine," Giampaolo said. "It's a heavy thing: You're
dealing with all kinds of people, with different languages and everything.
No one else in Quebec has done this - with that magnitude and that size. No
one."
Skip Snair, now special-events director at CHOM, Mix 96 and CJAD, worked
with Brault in the early days at Donald K. Donald and reminisced
affectionately about a colleague and friend who always put the job first.
"We all had our party moments, but you can't survive in this business
without having the ability to get back to work. Lloyd always took work
first. He got it done and then he had fun. A lot of people did it the other
way around and wondered why they were out of work," Snair said.
"I wish we could have said how great this guy is under different
circumstances," Lefebvre said. "I would have said the same things if (The
Gazette) had been profiling the greats of our business. He's going to be
very, very missed."
Lefebvre said he was not aware of the funeral arrangements, although a
visitation is scheduled for today from 1 to 9 p.m. at the Urgel Bourgie
Funeral Complex at 3955 Cote de Liesse Rd. in St. Laurent.
Fred Landry
some Seinfeld thing screaming at me about Lloyd Brault. Then again, maybe it's
the medication kicking in.
Fred Landry
Land...@aol.com
(Remove "NOSPAM" from my address to reply via e-mail)