Guylaine Guy

Artist: Guylaine Guy

LP: French Doll
Song: "Paris est un Accordéon"
[ listen ]

Song: "Madame Bertrand"
[ listen ]

"French Doll" Guylaine Guy is a Canadian! Born in the spring of 1929 in Montreal, Guylaine got her start singing in some of her city's cabarets. Charles Trenet discovered her there in 1955 and began writing songs for her...and the rest, as they say, isn't history. That's because after touring the world and having a hit record in 1963, Gylaine retired from music to focus on her art. I've been sifting through my French-language LPs and am getting rid of quite a few, but this 1957 delight is definitely a keeper.

[ Guylaine Guy in 1957 ]

 [ Guylaine Guy in 2015 ]

Céline Dion

Artist: Céline Dion

LP: Tellement J'ai d'Amour

Song: "Écoutez-Moi"
[ listen ]

My dearest friend, who happens to be an immigrant, sent me this article about Canada's prime minister welcoming the refugees from war-torn countries who are being turned away from the USA by the latest executive order issued by Donald Trump. The music of Canadian chanteuse Céline Dion now suddenly sounds like heaven to my ears! 

I'd like to apologize to anyone who's reading this outside the USA—near, far, wherever you are. My country is seriously going to fuck up the world over the next four years. Way more than half of us here are really sorry.

[ Céline & the Dions ]

Claude Dubois

Artist: Claude Dubois

LP: Touchez Dubois

Song: "Urphée"

[ listen ]

Here's a lovely little French-Canadian something from 1973 for a cold and snowy winter morning in Seattle. You can read about the life and career of Monsieur Dubois in English here, and if you prefer to read about him in French, go here.

[ Claude Dubois with pregnant woman — 1973 ]

[ Claude Dubois with pregnant woman — 2007 ]

Charles Linton

Artist: Charles Linton

LP: Bientôt

Song: "A Tous Les Amoureux (I'll Never Fall In Love Again)"

[ listen ]

Song: "Delilah"

[ listen ]

There are certainly worse things to aspire to than wanting to be known as the Tom Jones or Engelbert Humperdinck of French-Speaking Canada. And when it comes to glorious early 1970s hairdos, Tom and E-Bert have nothing on Charles Linton. The "Bientôt" LP, probably from the late '60s, is filled with Linton's French- and English-language covers of some of Jones' and Humperdinck's most popular tunes. Nowadays this talented and handsome singer is known as Charles Prévost Linton, and you can find him performing the Canadian national anthem at the Bell Centre sports arena in Montréal. Go here to read more about that and to listen to a few more of his songs, including a French-language version of "Penny Lane" with his '60s group Les Sinners.

[ Charles Linton ]

Danièlle Oddera

Artist: Danièlle Oddera

LP: Danièlle Oddera

Song: "C'est Que Je T'Appartiens"

[ listen ]

I found this self-titled Danièlle Oddera LP in Montréal, Québec while attending a conference there several years ago for work. My French is pretty rusty, but from what I understand here, Danièlle Oddera met singer Jacques Brel at her very first party in 1965. Then, according to this, she and pianist-comedian Jean Marchand performed at a tribute concert in 2008 to honor of the 30th anniversary of Brel's death. You can find this lovely blonde chanteuse's discography by clicking here.

 [ Danièlle Oddera w/ Jean Marchand in 2008. ]

Claude Gauthier

Artist: Claude Gauthier

LP: Claude Gauthier

Song: "Ma Muse"

[ listen ]

Here's a lovely something from a 1965 French-language Canadian record I picked up at Jive Time Records last week. Born in the remote village of Lac-Saguay, Quebec (population still just 492) in January of 1939, Claude Gauthier decided he wanted to become a singer after hearing Félix Leclerc on the radio. Claude worked for a spell as a wilderness guide and then in a record dealer's warehouse before taking his voice and guitar to the coffee shops of Montréal, where he soon became a favorite of audiences and critics alike. In 1964 he shared the stage at Carnegie Hall with Peter, Paul, & Mary, and also co-wrote a song with fellow Canadian folksinger Buffy Sanite-Marie. Claude got his acting career underway by co-starring with Genevieve Bujold in the 1967 film BETWEEN SWEET AND SALT WATER, for which he also wrote the music. But if you ask me, Claude Gauthier's accomplishments in music and film are slightly overshadowed by his remarkable ability to compliment a dynamite sweater with the perfect pair of boots. You can read more about the life and career of Claude Gauthier on Wikipedia here and go here to see a more recent photo of the handsome singer.

Robert Charlebois

Artist: Robert Charlebois

LP: Charlebois

Song: "Je Rêve à Rio"

[ listen ]

Last Thursday evening I had a few minutes to spare after I found parking and before meeting a friend at The Lobby Bar on Capitol Hill, so I popped over to EverDay Music to find this colorful 1974 LP by Québéois singer Robert Charlebois. Born in Montréal in 1944, Charlebois was one of the recording artists to be featured on a Canadian postage stamp in the summer of 2009. You can read about Robert Charlebois here, if you understand French you can find even more info on his website here, and a video for one of Charlebois' most popular songs is included here:

Robert Charlebois on YouTube:

[ "Je Reviendrai à Montréal" ]

 

 

Bertrand Gosselin

Artist: Bertrand Gosselin

LP: Bertrand Gosselin

Song: "L'hiver Québécois"

[ listen ]

Here's a lovely song from a French-language folk record I found on a my trip to Montréal back in November of 2007. Along with performing solo, Québécois singer and unicyclist Bertrand Gosselin was half of the "Jim and Bertrand" duo with Jim Corcoran. You can read about Gosselin's career on this website, find more info, music, photos, and become his friend on MySpace here, and here's a video of Bertrand performing in 1983, when he was about 31 years old. Don't miss the juggler.

Bertrand Gosselin on YouTube:

[ "La Randonnée" ]

  [ Bertrand Gosselin in November, 2009 ]