French-Canadian singer and songwriter Cindy Daniel, born in Montreal in 1986, directed her ambitions toward a music career at an early age. By her mid-teens she was already sharpening her abilities on piano and vocals, and at sixteen she had forged solid ties with producers inside the Tox label’s studios. After opening for acts such as Les B.B., Dubmatique, and Mitsou, she gained a firm foothold in the business through the same imprint. Collaborators Louis Côté, Claude Sénécal, and Serge Laporte gave her the nickname “La Petite Indienne,” under which she prepared her first album, anchored by the radio single “Si Tu Veux Partir.” La Petite Indienne appeared in 2002 and earned favorable notices, yet Daniel had little opportunity to savor the reception. She was cast as Elvira in the musical Don Juan, which toured Quebec and France beginning in 2004 alongside Jean-François Breau, Genevieve Charest, and Mario Pelchat. While the company performed in Paris she took advantage of Pelchat’s studio to cut her next record, J’Avoue. Crafted between Paris and Montreal, the album contained six tracks co-written by Daniel with François Welgryn, Frédérick Baron, and Vincenzo Thoma. It reached stores in March 2006 and remained on the Canadian national charts for more than a year.
