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Luc Robitaille’s 16-year-old son Jessarae launches attempt at music career

2010 NHL Draft - Round One

during the 2010 NHL Entry Draft at Staples Center on June 25, 2010 in Los Angeles, California.

Bruce Bennett

“Lucky” Luc Robitaille enjoyed a fantastic NHL career, but it looks like his son might want to pack arenas based on a different skill set. His 16-year-old son Jesse Robitaille (who recently changed his stage name to “Jessarae”) hopes to generate a solid music career with the next step being a tour of the mid-west.

The young aspiring musician seems like he has a way to go before he reached a Justin Bieber-like pitch, although recent publicity pushed at least one of his videos to nearly 40,000 hits. Then again, being scrappy and unwilling to accept setbacks is what helped his father get this far, so shouldn’t Jessarae struggle a bit, too?

The Toronto Sun article points out that Jessarae’s leans more toward acoustic rock than ... whatever it is that Bieber does exactly (Jessarae might describe it best as “sugary pop”). Some might wonder if Luc Robitaille would rather see his son pursue a hockey career, but Luc appears supportive as long as Jesse is putting out the right amount of effort.

“It’s totally fine by me,” Robitaille said. “As long as I see him working hard, which he is doing, I’m a happy man and I’ll do everything to support him.”

On stage, Jessarae is a natural entertainer. His choice of acoustic guitar, mellow, ethereal lyrics and high notes sound more Jesse McCartney than Justin Bieber, and there’s a market for this type of singer. Plus, he’s still very young and trying various styles.

(snip)

“I don’t play sugary pop,” Jessarae has said about the comparison to other teen singers. “I play rock, soul and groove.”

Indeed, at the Canada Day performance, Jessarae sang Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, an extremely mature choice. (Both dad and Cohen are from Montreal so that may have had something to do with it).

Curious about what his “rock, soul and groove” ends up sounding like? Here’s a YouTube video of that performance of “Hallelujah.”

[vodpod id=Video.10444751&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26]

Interestingly enough, this might not be the only time Luc Robitaille will help a family member strive for showbiz fame. Linda Massarella points out that Robitaille advised his stepson Steven R. McQueen to use his famous grandfather’s name (you guessed it, Steve McQueen) rather than Robitaille as he pursued a career in acting. That seemed like a good idea, as Steven R. McQueen landed a role in the TV show “The Vampire Diaries.”

Who knows if Jessarae will achieve that level of success, but if nothing else, he doesn’t sound like Justin Bieber.