Laure Monique Pester, professionally known as Lorie, (born May 2, 1982) is a French singer. She has sold over 8 million albums and singles worldwide as of December 2007. Her first studio album Près de toi was certified triple platinum in France and she followed it with five other certified albums. Lorie is also an actress, who lent her voice for many French versions of international movies including Stuart Little 2. She stars in the TF1 TV film De feu et de glace, and guest-starred as a Parisian model on the American soap opera The Young and the Restless. She has also launched a clothing line, "Lorie", only found in the Z stores in France. Her contract with Z ended in early 2009. When Lorie heard that producer Axel Brangeon was looking for a young girl that knew how to sing and dance, she immediately auditioned and won the contract. Lorie recorded "Près de moi", written by Johnny Williams and Louis Element, which was rejected by every record label. Williams uploaded the song onto a French website, peoplesound" and the song received 15,000+ downloads in two months. Thereafter Epic Group Project of Sony Music France signed Lorie, who was only eighteen at the time. "Près de moi" was officially released in 2001, accompanied by a highly popular music video. It was certified Platinum in France for over 500,000 copies sold. Its parent album "Près de toi", released on October 30, 2001, became a triple Platinum recording in France with 1,000,000+ copies sold. The next singles "Je serai (ta meilleure amie)" and "Toute seule" were also certified Gold. “Tendrement”, Lorie's second album, saw the light in 2002 with three commercially successful singles: “J'ai besoin d'amour”, “À 20 ans” and “Sur un air Latino”. The album became as successful as “Près de toi” selling over a million copies in Europe. In April 2002, Lorie sung “Oser ses rêves” for the French soundtrack of the Disney animation film Cinderella II: Dreams Come True and lend her voice for the French version of the movie Stuart Little 2; she is the bird Margalo. After touring for the promotion of her album, Lorie released a book called "Ma tournée" which sold over 200,000 copies, becoming one of the most successful books ever written by a singer in France. Later, her debut album "Près de toi" would come back to the lights after its release in Japan with new tracks (English versions of her songs "Près de moi" and "Toute Seule") including "Dans mes rêves" which was used in the Évian in which Lorie was starring. She also confirmed her relationship with Filipino-American pop-star Billy Crawford. In late 2003, Lorie's first live album and music DVD come out, both entitled "Lorie Live Tour" which received a great response. Come early 2004, "Attitudes" was already out and the singles "Week-end", "La positive attitude" and "Ensorcelée" were big hits. The album became Platinum in France because it sold over 600,000 copies. Lorie toured again to promote the album. The song "C’est plus fort que moi", written by Jean-Jacques Goldman, was later released to support the "Week-End Tour". In June, Lorie launched her very own clothing line, simply entitled "Lorie", exclusively sold in the Z stores in France. Her contract with Z was cancelled in early 2009. ... Source: Article "Lorie (singer)" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.