TORONTO — Across the ocean, plenty of folks have been humming along to a snappy pop ditty called Bad Day.

The singer-songwriter behind the track - which is No. 1 in France, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany - is now trying to make a similar splash on home turf.

British Columbia's Daniel Powter will release his self-titled CD later this month.

"I was really nervous to come back because you get questions like 'Why are you over there and not here?' " says the amiable Powter.

Powter is considered the latest "it" act overseas, where his CD has topped the charts everywhere it's been released.
So much so that the new star was invited to perform at the Live 8 show in Berlin. He had thousands waving their arms in the air, singing along word-for-word to Bad Day, the album's first single.

As impressive as that sounds, it wasn't the piano player's biggest crowd to date. There was a music festival in Paris, he explains, attended by 150,000 devotees.

"In France, they own that song," gushes the 34-year-old. "You'll play it and you can't even hear yourself singing it. It's amazing."

Powter's story began in Vernon, B.C., where he was born and raised. As head of the local art gallery, his mother encouraged her child's creative side with violin lessons.

By 14 he'd moved on to the piano, where he'd mimic favourite artists like Elton John, Fleetwood Mac and the Beatles.
"I was really dyslectic when I was a kid. I couldn't read music . . . . I had the record player set up next to the piano and I would try to play the melodies," he explains.

He moved to Victoria and then Vancouver in his late teens to pursue his music dreams.

Fast forward about a decade during which he unsuccessfully cast about for record deals, and Powter was signed with Warner Bros. in the U.S.

"I tried really hard to be signed here (in Canada). It was really difficult," says the performer, who now lives in Santa Monica, Calif.

Warner convinced France's Coca-Cola division to use a snippet of Bad Day in a two-week-long commercial spot during last year's Christmas season.

"It definitely was a reason to push for the record's release there," he said. "They put their hands up . . . said they wanted it."

It's likely his European triumph will be repeated in Canada. Radio has already embraced Powter's soft pop, pushing Bad Day into the Top 10 adult contemporary charts.

His CD is filled with innocuous piano-pop melodies with easy-to-sing-along lyrics. Like John Mayer and Train, he's pushing his sensitive, honest side.

"I'm so sick of music that - no offence, but to sing about your (car) rims and your (girls) all the time? People just want to know who you are," says Powter.