You would have thought his destiny was preordained. He had hockey skates on his feet when he was 2 years-old - and then a hockey stick. He watched from a front row seat as his father, Patrick, built one of the greatest legacies in the game.
“I couldn’t look away. My dad was my idol. Of course, I wanted to be just like him.” When Jonathan Roy was a young boy, he snuck down to the living room in the middle of the night, picked up the Stanley Cup and brought it in to his bed. He pulled the covers over hockey’s holy grail and whispered to it, “I’m going to win you one day.” Jonathan’s father had just won the NHL championship and his son wanted to follow in papa’s footsteps. A decade later, Jonathan was the goaltender playing junior hockey for the Quebec Ramparts and was certain he was on track for the big leagues. One day though, his father, the team’s head coach, sat down with his son and delivered the news that an NHL career was not in the cards, and that he should probably consider going back to school to learn another profession. Jonathan was actually relieved.
What the All-Star goalie didn’t realize was that his son carried another secret passion. For years, Jonathan had been sitting at his mother’s feet as she played piano while the music seeped into his soul. When he was 13, she bought him a set of drums, a guitar and a microphone and he started writing songs.
“When I told Pat that I wanted to be a musician, he thought I was completely nuts,” laughs Jonathan, remembering the conversation with Dad. “He stressed education. He had no idea I was already involved with music. I really needed to follow my heart.”
Jonathan was unperturbed believing music was the right road to follow. He may not have inherited his father’s hockey skills, but he did possess a similar passion, which is a Roy trait and with that in sight he single-mindedly pursued his own dream.
He started dabbling into recording music for the very first time at age 19, while experimenting and searching for his own artistic identity.
In 2012, he auditioned for and received one of the leads in the Quebec France Production musical ¨Don Juan¨ which gave the young musician some much needed confidence as a singer and stage performer.
Rave reviews followed as did a flurry of sudden media recognition. Being in a successful musical was wonderful exposure but what ran through Jonathan’s blood veins was a desire to become an accomplished singer-songwriter so finding the right musical mentor to nurture his innate talent was a priority.
That quest lead him to a chance introduction with Canadian music icon Corey Hart, who happened to be looking for a new artist on his label Siena Records, partnered with Warner Music Canada.
As soon as Hart heard Jonathan’s authentically passionate voice he knew he had found the talent he had always been waiting for. Over the next three years the pair built a very deep relationship together working towards the sound which would define Jonathan Roy to the world.
¨He always pushes me to be a better artist - pushing me to my max ....that´s what Corey Hart does ¨
On the night of his 26th birthday in 2015 - Jonathan wrote Corey an emotional baring of the soul e-mail describing yet another failed date in the midst of an existential crisis. The singer longed for a substantive relationship and concurrently to fully realize his music career aspirations - which he felt at the time were like treading in water.
The heartfelt email was the last thing Hart read before switching off the bed lights to sleep. In the middle of the night, Corey woke up with a melody in his head which compelled him to get up, grab a guitar and commit it to memory before it faded out.
“I never write songs this way,” says Hart. “In my entire career, it´s the only one that ever came to me in a dream¨
That dream was set in Copenhagen, Denmark where Jonathan was performing at a live outdoor festival. A girl approached Corey who was watching Jonathan by the side of the stage. She promptly announced. ¨Hi, I’m Daniella – I’m going to be Jonathan´s soulmate ¨
The song was later named ´Daniella Denmark,´ and with its unmistakably infectious melody and powerful blues vocal interpretation it boldly announces to the world a talented new artist has arrived on the scene.
“I do want to be the next Ed Sheeran or the next Vance Joy. I want to sell millions and millions of records like Corey Hart,” he declares, “but the main thing is to be happy. If I can just put a plate on my table at home and be able to say I paid for this, worked for it by playing music, I’d be proud of that. I love to write and express my life. If I can keep doing that for the rest of my days that would be my success story.”