We had the good fortune of connecting with Sly Chapel and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sly, can you share a quote or affirmation with us?
Sky is the limit! But I made it my own and it became SLY is the limit. Over time, I realized that we had all the powers. The power to create the life we ​​want and that our only limits are our fears. I believe that we can accomplish anything we want in life, without limiting ourselves, if we believe in it. Your only limit is YOU!

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
At the end of the 90s, after working with the biggest artists of the local and international dance scene, I decided to create my own business which I called “La Chapelle”. Not only because it’s my last name but because it represents a community, a parish based on faith, trust and respect. It is not a question of religion but rather to believe in oneself and in our projects. I’m always carrying out a thousand and one projects, in search of new adventures and in search of new talents. This year, I decided more than ever to create my own empire, my new world. With the closure, in 2021, of the distributor Select, which had been distributing my record label La Chapelle Records for 17 years, I had to turn around and therefore I created my own distribution (LMG). I can therefore offer artists, record labels, producers, to distribute their music on more than a hundred online stores all over the world. I also started to produce my own music (I just released my 3rd single) and I am preparing a complete album of my compositions with several guest artists. This year, I’m working on my own festival, Wonderful Land, and even on my own web radio station. Without forgetting the writing of a book and a film.

As if that wasn’t enough, I host a weekly EDM countdown called “Electrode” on more than 12 radio stations in 8 countries and I share my influence and experience as a DJ and host all the way to Los Angeles by inviting people in my musical universe on Mix93FM every Sunday with my show “In My House”, exclusively on this station, a BDS reporter.

How do I do that? I don’t sleep! LOL

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Wow! I love doing the tour guide for my friends and my artists. So, we are in Montreal, and I invite him/her to the Notre-Dame Basilica for a mind-blowing light and sound show. This is where Celine Dion and René Angélil got married and where René’s funeral took place as well.

Since it is located in the Old Port of Montreal, we take the opportunity to go to the Bonsecours Market to have a bite on a wonderful terrace and do some shopping. We will be back there in the evening for a special activity on the haunted places and famous people of Montreal. I am passionate about paranormal phenomena and tales and legends.

For dinner, one of my favorite restaurants is located in the gay village of Montreal. The Saloon. With its relaxed atmosphere with an on-site DJ and friendly staff, I have always appreciated this place where you eat very well. I even brought the legendary icon of the 80s, Samantha Fox with whom I worked for a few years, as well as my good friend Sonia Benezra, the most popular TV host in Quebec.

In the evening, to have a little fun, what better than Cabaret Mado, a performance hall and bar belonging to Quebec’s most famous Drag Queen, Mado Lamothe. There are transvestite shows, good music, good cocktails and a friendly and energized atmosphere. I’ve brought Crystal Waters, Samantha Fox and other artists and friends there before.

If it still existed, I would have brought you to the famous Club 1234 located on De la Montagne Street (one of the richest streets in Montreal with its Holt Renfrew and Ogilvy stores). This club, which belonged briefly to Guy Laliberté and for several years to DJ MC Mario, is renowned for being one of the most haunted places in Canada but also as our Studio 54 in New York. But as it closed during the pandemic, I bring you to La Voûte, the most beautiful and prestigious nightclub that exists at the moment, located in the depths of the first skyscraper in the Old Port of Montreal, in the safe. fort of the former Royal Bank of Canada. I celebrated some of my birthdays there. The decor is beautiful and we are treated well there.

And I would host my guest at the famous Mount Stephen Hotel located in the Golden Square Mile on Drummond Street. This beautiful place belonged to Lord George Stephen, a Scottish-born businessman. He immigrated here in 1850 and eventually became one of the most powerful men in Canada’s clothing industry, as well as the President of the Bank of Montreal in 1876 and the first President of Canadian Pacific Railway. We will have a last drink at the Bar Goerge of this place. It is a wonderful place rich in culture and heritage.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My Shoutout goes to my mentor Jean-Claude Aubin, a promotion agent for a record company in Laval (Quebec, Canada). In 1994, I was working at the radio in Granby and I wanted to get the Whigfield record, “Saturday Night”. I then contacted this agent to have this CD sent to me. But jokingly, he told me that he had no budget to send it to me by mail, so I went to pick it up myself in Laval. It was then that he saw the ardor and the passion which animated me and proposed to me to work with him. I moved to Montréal and I booked and promote the greatest dance artists of the time including Whigfield, Los Del Mar (Macarena), Playahitty, Carol Jiani and many others … This man showed me everything about this job. My dad passed away when I was 16, so he’s like my 2nd father. My father of the showbusiness.

I also have to make a shoutout to Canadian legendary DJ MC Mario with whom I have collaborated in the sale of more than 3.5 million dance compilations (Sony Music Canada, Universal Music Canada). He is a great inspiration to me.

Website: www.lachapellerecords.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/slychapel/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/slychapel

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/slychapel

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeaiZGhRVZpQdIxdzWDyiAA

Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3JbTIq98jyXOe7q1HBitTs?si=QxK_GitlTz6Wx8Dm9JZwgw Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sly-chapel/1577140262

Image Credits
Personnal collection

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