By Mike Cohen
Tribune Correspondent
MONTREAL – He may be one of the most sucessful Jewish songwriter/record producers in all of Canada. Montrealer Steven Eisenberg, who goes by the stage name Steven Tracey, has written more than 1,000 songs, of which some 300 have been recorded and released internationally by the likes of Céline Dion, Mireille Mathieu, Natasha St-Pier, 2Unlimited, Technotronic, Loverboy, Triumph and Paul Anka.
Tracey is the executive producer for French recording superstar Corneille’s million-selling album Parce Qu'on Vient de Loin and now he is headed to the Juno Awards, Canada’s answer to the Grammy’s, on April 2 where the newest star performer working under his wing is nominated for Best Francophone Album of the Year. Her name is Senaya (www.senaya.ca). Born in Dakar, Senegal, she’s called Montreal home for the past 10 years. She speaks seven languages and while she sings only in French she has begun to attract a following across the country. With this in mind she will tour Canada starting in the fall.
Montreal’s Jewish community has approached her to participate in an anti-racism concert. The title of her album, Garde La Tête Haute, or Hold Your Head High, spoke of exactly the type of theme event organizers wish to underline. Senaya’s album is soon to be released by a major label in Europe.
And Tracey’s next writing project involves 12-year-old Montreal talent Nicky Yanofsky. “She is a voice and an artist that will be an immense talent to watch,” he promises. “Her rootsy R&B influenced vocals and innate talent are going to propel her career in ways that I have not seen since working with Céline Dion.”
Tracey went to elementary school in the Montreal suburb of Côte Saint-Luc and then moved with his family to the United States, attending high school in Albany, NY. From there he enrolled at Queen’s University in Kingston, but music was not part of his curriculum. In fact, he studied Biology and Biochemistry and then completed an honours degree at Carleton University in Ottawa.
“I actually started writing songs when I was 14,” he told the Jewish Tribune in an interview, with Senaya by his side. “I have been writing songs and doing demos in studios for as long as I can remember. I did my first demos actually in Montreal when RCA Records put me in their studio to do song demos for some of their signed artists. In my teens, I would make trips to see the American Music Publishers situated in New York City every chance I got and would stay with my American relatives there and beat the pavement in Manhattan knocking on as many doors as I could. I hung around some of the biggest studios in New York and even got to sit in on sessions with Aerosmith, John Lennon and many other then-famous artists, hoping to learn something about producing records.”
In 1981, Tracey was hanging out at the Portage Club of the downtown Bonaventure Hilton Hotel in Montreal and caught the famous R&B group, The Stylistics from Philidelphia. “After the show, I approached one of the singers and guitarist Loni Gamble and convinced him to sign with me,” he says. “After which he remained in Montreal and with no money and many promises to RCA Studios, I produced and wrote his first single Could It Be Love, which a local radio station manager, Rob Braide, flipped on and ended up breaking here in Montréal. The record sold more than 40,000 copies in Canada on my own label and then went on to become a huge hit overseas in more than 15 countries in Europe and the USA, selling more than 500,000 copies. This is how it all started.”
Tracey, who took the first name of one of his sisters as his new pseudonym, went on to produce more than 50 albums and write songs for almost every francophone star from Montréal to France, co-writing many songs for the likes of Dion, St. Pierre, Mathieu with one of the most famous French Lyricists, Eddy Marnay, an Algerian Jew who passed away a few years ago.
While Tracey considers the history of his people important, so does Senaya. She expressed concern about the plight of her brethren in Darfur. “It saddens (me) what is happening there,” she says. “I feel for the children especially. As my career moves forward I hope to be in a position to contribute financially to my homeland.”
Senaya noted that she even has some fans from the ultra-Orthodox Chassidic community in Montreal. “I shot a video last fall in the very religious Mile End District,” she said. “It was on a Saturday and the Hassidic men frequently came by the set to ask questions and listen to the music. I felt very honoured because I am told they don’t often talk to women, nor do they listen to music.”
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