Ladies and gentlemen, Corey Hart.
Without music, or the Junos,
I would have never met my precious
Julie.
And I realize that music
and love are the two most powerful
forces in my life.
Thank you very much.
Thank you so much.
Hey, this is Corey Hart, and here is
my Junos Moment.
Thank you.
He was asked to present at the 1993
Juno Awards alongside
another Montreal musician, named
Julie Masse.
That fateful introduction became a
love story of their lifetime.
Live from Toronto's O'Keefe Centre, it's
the 22nd annual Juno Awards.
It was 1993 and
I was nominated and I was going to
be presenting that year and Julie
also was nominated for
most promising female vocalist.
We are gathered here tonight to
celebrate the achievements of the
people who make up our Canadian
music industry.
Half hour before we showed up for
the dress rehearsal, I got a phone
call saying that the juno committee
switched the category and that I was
going to be presenting video of the
year. So I just politely declined
and said thanks, but, no thanks —
and I think it sent the Junos
into a panic because
I had been pre-announced that I was
going to be presenting on the
telecast that year.
I was just about to arrive for the
dress rehearsal and they said, would
I be opposed to presenting
group of the year accompanied by a
young female singer — her name
is Julie Masse.
I was nominated, but my English
was quite limited at the time – I
was not speaking that well — and
we got a phone call in the car
asking if I would be willing to
present an award with Corey Hart.
He's an internationally successful
star and she is tonight's
most promising female vocalist:
Corey Hart and Julie Masse.
I was unfamiliar with Julie, but
because she's from my hometown and
I love my hometown,
I love my province of Quebec, I was
like, yeah, that sounds awesome.
So obviously, everybody's screaming
in the car, saying absolutely, you
have to do it. So, I'm like, well,
I hope I can because,
I mean, my English is not that good.
So, they said, don't worry, we'll
help you.
Everything's going to go great.
When we presented that night
and poor Julie, because I went off
script as well, there was a
teleprompter, but it was during the
hockey strike...
The field of nominees for group
of the year shows just
how diverse...
We have a teleprompter, right, and
we have to read.
So, I rehearsed my lines.
I was totally ready.
That's true, but you just know that
because they're Canadian bands, they
have a lot of things in common, like
watching Hockey Night in Canada.
And I went off on some riffing
about Don Cherry or something, and
she was completely like befuddled,
like, what is this guy doing?
She probably thought I was a jerk.
And Corey starts his
line, then I do mine, and then all
of a sudden, the prompter's going
up and down like that because Corey
is not saying what's on the
teleprompter — he's completely
speaking about something I have no
clue what he's saying...
and I'm completely lost because I
don't even understand what he's
saying.
Well, in rock 'n' roll, it's true
that if it doesn't kill you,
it will make you stronger.
So, let's look at a very strong
group of nominees.
And then we came off stage.
My manager was completely
thinking that he had the best idea
in the world, which was for Corey
to write songs for me.
At that point in my career, I had
only written songs for myself.
I had never contemplated
the notion
of writing for another artist or
producing for another artist.
But I liked that idea, and the
manager suggested, you know,
would I be interested in working
with Julie?
So, that's what we did, but
obviously, at the same time, I guess
it ended my career because
we fell in love and that was
the end for me.
I live and still live
and breathe for Corey.
We fell madly in love and we're
twenty-seven years and four kids
later and going
strong. Had I not been stubborn –
and you could say maybe difficult
or diva artist or whatever —
and I just accepted video of the
year, I never would have met Julie.
And so I like
to say that my stubbornness
does have its benefits.