By Rich Monetti****Lili Roquelin began writing and performing music at a very young age. Her guitar playing father was certainly an influence but the French-born singer/songwriter had no intention of staying home with her talent. “I had a dream of coming to America,” she says; and in 2004, Roquelin put her aspirations in motion. She left France and set her sights for the bright lights and big city hustle of… Cleveland, Ohio. “I had some friends and relatives there. So I moved there first,” she explains.
That less-than-typical starting point didn’t hinder her American beginnings or miss the mark or equate to any tired punchlines. Cleveland is The home of the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame,” she says. “The music scene is pretty good.”
She soon joined a pop-rock band called Phizzy Lager. Then A Taste of Departure went digital as her first album release. Pleasingly pop with an upbeat drive in singles like, “Wall Around You,” “Summer Rain” and “What is She Looking For,” the 2004 collection left her in a position to “make a killing.” Roquelin next recorded Never Ending Sundown with the local band, Hate Dies Hard. “They were a very much established band in Cleveland, had their own record label and we recorded in a pretty big studio,” the singer explains.
These accomplishments went a long way toward achieving her childhood ambitions, and she knew it. “I’m here to stay and I’m staying here,” she remembers feeling. Still, completely staying put isn’t in her nature, and by 2007, Cleveland reached its limit. “I needed more,” Roquelin asserts. She’d also won a number of notable awards, including the Rising Star Award at the 2016 Canada International Film Festival for her Like a Feather music video.
New York City was on the horizon, but the glut of NYC talent didn’t knock her outlook down a notch in the least. In fact, the bar set so high perfectly satisfied the new horizon she was looking for. “That challenge really motivates me,” Roquelin says. “So I got to get better and keep at it.” “That challenge really motivates me,” Roquelin says. “So I got to get better and keep at it.”
The change-over to her new environment had Roquelin adding live piano shows to her repertoire, and, of course, keeping up her writing. Her process began to make sense back in France when the teenager switched to English for her poems. “The rhythm of the words are perfect for music,” Roquelin says. “I heard it right away.” That revelation now progresses in a process that she calls, strength in vulnerability. “I like to go deep and connect with the soul of people,” she explains. “The only way to do that is share big things about my emotions.” “After Dark” on her latest album definitely fills that bill with ts haunting key strokes and Lili at the piano. The “Being Inspired” single seeks the dawn of a new day. “It’s about finding the light after the darkness of difficult times,” Roquelin says.
Her daily journaling helps her keep track and provides storage for future lyrics. On the music side, a melody progression may suddenly play in her mind; the writer in her eventually takes a seat to get a listen to what she wants to accomplish. In combination, the words either flow from the lyrical rolodex of her mind or she conjures on the spot through inspiration. 
But her most high-profile words to date stand on their own without the uplift of a catchy melody. She just participated with Julian Lennon on a spoken-word track called “Voices of the People,” which is part of a Quincy Jones soundtrack for the movie One Little Finger. “It’s a pretty big project and I’m really proud to appear on that album,” Roquelin beams.
Meanwhile, she continues to promote “Be Inspired” and will be appearing in NYC shows in 2020. No matter what she’s doing, though, the melody ever goes silent for her. “I can’t imagine a day without music,” Roquelin concludes.
https://www.liliroquelin.com
Photos by Pat Bourque
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