Jonaton Fiori

Jonaton Lucas Fiori (born 22 January 1983 in St. Saviour, Trinity County) is New Cambrian pop singer famed for his strong lyric-writing and vocal performances. Prior to 2007, he was known professionally as Jonathan Fiori, using the English equivalent of his French given name.

Music Career
Jonaton started his way to stardom at the age of eight, when he won a local talent contest in his hometown of St. Saviour. The same year, he joined a folklore group in nearby Greenbriar called "Stories in Song," that toured all over New Cambria, Atlantic Canada and New England, winning many awards for their dancing and singing. Jonaton was one of the main vocalists for the folklore group. He performed to a much larger audience in 1994, when he was one of eight young people selected to sing at New Cambria Television's annual New Year's Eve show. This was his first performance before such a sizable audience. From then, he performed at various festivals in New Cambria, the United States and Canada, winning several awards. In 2004, he submitted a song to compete in the first ever New Cambria National Song Contest, but was not selected to participate in the live shows. He recorded an LP in early 2005 entitled "Millions." Two of the LP's six tracks were released as singles, one of which reached #44 on New Cambria's Singles Chart.

In 2005, Fiori made a second attempt at entering the National Song Contest, this time with the song "Fantasies," which was co-written by Fiori and a friend and composed by famed musician and composer Gracie Evans. "Fantasies" was performed in the third Semi-Final round of the contest, and came in second place, qualifying Fiori for the Grand Final. Fiori performed "Fantasies" as the opening number of the Grand Final. The song collected a total of 82 points (52 from the jury and 30 from the televotes), ranking eighth out of the ten finalists. "Fantasies" spent eight weeks on New Cambria's Top 50 Singles Chart in early 2006, peaking at #19. In June 2006, Fiori released "Two Colours," his debut album, which peaked at #11 on the Top 100 Individual Artist Albums in September of that year.

Despite the success of his English-language debut album, or perhaps partly because of it, Fiori changed his focus to recording and releasing music primarily in French. On the 2 February 2007 episode of Person to Person, on which Fiori was a guest, he joked that his grandmother, an ardent Francophile, refused to buy his English album unless he also released one in French. That album, "Écrit Sur Les Murs" ("Written On The Walls"), was released in October 2007 in New Cambria and Canada. It was commercially and critically successful in both countries, and it solidified Fiori's credibility as an artist. On this album and all subsequent work, he has been credited as Jonaton Fiori.

Fiori returned to the National Song Contest in 2008, this time with the French-language song "Le Temps Perdu" ("The Lost Time"). The song was one of only four non-English songs selected to participate in the competition. "Le Temps Perdu" was performed in the first Semi-Final round, where it scored 132 points, ranking third out of six entries and thus relegating it to the Wild Card Semi-Final. Fiori won the Wild Card Semi-Final Round with 164 points, earning him a place in the Grand Final. At the Grand Final Gala on 6 December, "Le Temps Perdu" received a total of 149 points (53 from the jury and 96 from the televotes), ranking third out of the ten finalists.

In early 2009, Fiori was cast in the independent film "Two Too Many," playing the part of a French-Canadian writer. He spent five weeks in Oregon to film the movie. In an interview, he also expressed an interest in entering the National Song Contest again, perhaps as early as 2009.

Personal Life
Fiori graduated from high school in St. Saviour in 2001. He studied Sociology at Southport City University, but put his studies on hold in 2003 to develop his professional career. In 2007, he returned to SCU, albeit through the university's online division, to complete his coursework toward a degree, and will graduate in 2009.

In 2005, Fiori purchased a home on 160 acres (64.75 hectares) of land on Sainte Claire Island, which is where he spends the bulk of his time when not performing. The majority of his family continues to live in St. Saviour, including his parents, who own a hardware shop there. He began dating Canadian tennis player Eva Rowe in 2005, and the two married on 13 May 2007. The couple is expecting their first child in April 2009.