2024-01-18 05:05:00

Madonna is in Montreal. The diva, who will be in concert in the evening on Thursday and Saturday at the Bell Centre, and her team landed in Dorval on Tuesday, confirms her long-time pianist, Montrealer Ric’key Pageot.

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Don’t get excited just yet, because it’s highly unlikely that you’ll run into Madonna on the streets of Montreal between now and her show on Thursday night. The 65-year-old singer – who was very ill in June 2023 – favors rest between her tour performances Celebration.

“For Madonna, being in Montreal is like coming home, because her mother was from Quebec. She asked me today how I felt regarding coming home and I returned the question. She answered me: I’m feeling the vibe! It’s always special for her to be here, she often says: I’m French Canadian too! She is very proud of it,” explains the pianist who has worked with the singer for 16 years already.

Ric’key Pageot is on his fifth world tour with the star he now considers a sister. “Playing at the Bell Center with Madonna, seeing friends, family and people involved in my musical life, it’s really special,” adds the man who marvels at finding himself in a chic hotel in his hometown (where he must withhold the name for security reasons) in the company of the queen of pop.

Montreal pianist Ric’key Pageot

Mercy James, Madonna’s 17-year-old daughter, delivers a piano performance during the concert (she performs a classical piece followed by the song Bad Girl with his famous mother). It is the artist from Côte-des-Neiges, of Haitian roots, who is his piano teacher and mentor.

“I’ve been working with Madonna for 16 years, but I have another role now. I’m not on stage, I play a role behind the scenes which is just as honorable. I have been teaching daughter Mercy James piano for 10 years. During this tour, I’m trying to show him how to control his emotions with performance… and with 20,000 people shouting at you every night,” says the man who praises his protégé’s calm attitude.

The Montreal pianist had the chance to know Madonna in a more personal way during the pandemic. Both living in LA, he visited her house twice a week to give piano lessons to her daughters.

“I spent a lot of time with her privately. Our relationship deepened and I was able to see a side of her that I had never seen before and that I really appreciated.”

Madonna, her daughter Mercy James and pianist Ric’key Pageot

To live his dream

It was in 2008 that Ric’Key Pageot caught the attention of Madonna, when he was musical director at Cirque du Soleil. Without giving him an audition, the singer invited him to participate in a few shows. He believes it was his work ethic, his discipline, his versatility, his attitude and their chemistry that then worked in his favor.

“Persistence, contacts, being a good person as much as possible, talent obviously and having good, authentic relationships with people can take us far,” he says.

Between the tour with Madonna, shows with Christina Aguilera, others with Cher and Diana Ross, Ric’key Pageot finds time to be part of the Haitian ball hockey team and to offer his own recitals of classical music all over the world. He will be giving an intimate performance Friday evening at Pianos Bolduc.

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