Natashquan, a village in the north of Quebec, which lies on the banks of the Gulf of Saint-Laurent and can only be reached by boat, is a remote and picturesque location favoured by hunters and fishermen. Gilles Vigneault was born in Natashquan on 27 October 1928 and spent most of his career evoking images of the region in his songs.

Gilles grew up in Natashquan with his parents – his father, a fisheries inspector, his mother, a primary school teacher – until the age of 13, when he left home to study at the seminary school in Rimouski. The literary-minded young man already saw himself as a poet. And he was not wrong. Gilles's first poems would later appear in student magazines and he went on to set up the poetry review Emourie, with a group of friends, which continued publication for thirteen years.

After obtaining a degree in literature in 1953, Gilles began acting with a local theatre troupe, La Troupe des Treize, and eventually went on to direct the company from 1956 to 1960. Thanks to his directing skills the troupe won an award at the National Drama Festival of East Quebec in 1958. Gilles never abandoned his love of the stage, either, returning to work in the theatre in between albums.

Gilles went on to marry Rachel Cloutier (with whom he had four children) in 1955. He soon found employment with the education board, teaching French in Valcartier, then at the Technology Institute of Quebec. Meanwhile, Gilles continued to follow his artistic bent, performing his first texts in a local café-théâtre. He went on to land a job in television, which was just emerging in Quebec at the time, hosting a programme about folk music. It was in the course of one of these shows that he met Jacques Labrecque. Labrecque was the first to bring one of Gilles's characters to life in music, when he performed Jos Monferrand(a song based on the rugged hunters and fishermen Gilles had grown up with in Natashquan).

Meanwhile, Gilles was busy sending collections of his poems off to local editors. After his poetry was turned down by one such editor in 1959, Gilles decided to set up his own small publishing company, Les éditions de l’Arc, which allowed him to publish his own poems, stories and songs throughout his career.

Finding a new vocation

Gilles soon went on to discover a new vocation in life and, thanks to the support and encouragement of his friends, he took to the stage to perform his first songs at a small, low-key venue in Quebec in 1960. Gilles received an unexpected birthday present on 27th October that year when he was invited to support Quebecois star Félix Leclerc in Rimouski. This was also the beginning of his collaboration with pianist Gaston Rochon, who was to become one of his most faithful collaborators over the years. In 1961, Gilles Vigneault went on to meet French stars Georges Brassens and Catherine Sauvage. (Sauvage would become the first female singer to include Vigneault's songs in her repertoire soon after this encounter). Later that year, Vigneault gave up his teaching career to devote himself to his singing career full-time. After a number of successful local shows he went on to give his first recital in Montreal. And the following year, in January, he went into the studio to record a debut album which included his future classics Jack Monoloy and La danse à Saint-Dilon.

From this point on, Gilles Vigneault was acknowledged as one of the leading music talents of Quebec. And this new status was confirmed when he won the coveted "Prix du disque" in 1962 and kicked off an extensive tour of the region. Vigneault was back in the news in 1963 with a second album which spawned the hit Tam ti delam. Later that year he performed at the "Comédie Canadienne" in Montreal for the first time. He would return to the prestigious venue up until 1968, attracting a bigger and bigger audience each time.

Vigneault's third album was released in 1965. 1965 proved to be a busy year in his career, in fact, as it also saw him acting in the film La neige a fondu sur la Manicouagan, for which he also wrote the theme song. (While the film failed to make any major impact on cinema-goers, Vigneault's theme song Mon pays went down in music history as an absolute classic).

Vigneault went on to perform in France for the first time in November 1965 at a gala organised by public French-language radio stations. His name went up in lights at Le Bobino in Paris in October 1966 when he did a one-week run of shows supported by Pauline Julien (a regular performer of his work).

Vigneault's next album, La Manikoutai, was released in Montreal in 1967. Then, following General de Gaulle's historic visit to Canada (and that famous speech "Vive le Québec libre!"), the Olympia music-hall in Paris decided to stage three nights of special shows in September '67, showcasing Francophone talents from across the Atlantic. Gilles Vigneault was among them. He returned to France on his first proper tour in 1968, performing as a support act for Serge Reggiani. From 1969 onwards Gilles Vigneault began to divide his time between Quebec and Europe, where he found himself in increasing demand. Meanwhile, his personal life was busy too as he began a new relationship with a woman named Alison Foy.

Vigneault went on to gain critical recognition in France, winning the prestigious "Prix de l’Académie Charles Cros" for his album Du milieu du pont in 1970. Following this success, several compilations bringing together his old hits and new songs were released in France on L'Escargot (a label Vigneault did much to help launch). Parisian audiences were soon flocking to The Olympia, Le Bobino and the Théâtre de la Villeto acclaim the national bard of Quebec. And in June Vigneault travelled even further afield to perform at the Universal Exhibition in Osaka, Japan.

Vigneault became an increasingly committed supporter of the independence movement in Quebec in the early 70s. He not only took part in political demonstrations on the streets, but also spoke out against government policy, publicly criticising the prime minister of the day in his famous Lettre à Ti-Cul Lachance.

Music and Politics

On 13 August 1974, 130,000 music fans flocked to the Abraham Plains for the "Superfrancofête" music festival. The event, attended by the prime ministers of Quebec and Canada, went down in Francophone music history, featuring as it did all the big names of the day with Gilles Vigneault appearing alongside veteran Quebecois star Félix Leclerc and rising new talent Robert Charlebois. A live album, entitled J’ai vu le loup, le renard, le lion, captured the special magic of this performance featuring a track with the trio singing Hymne à l’amour (written by Raymond Lévesque).

In 1975, Vigneault performed a one-off concert on Mont Royal and it was on this momentous occasion that he created one of the most famous songs of his career, Gens du pays. The catchy chorus line was soon on everyone's lips – and the song became such a popular hit that many felt it should be adopted as Quebec's national anthem!

Vigneault teamed up with Robert Charlebois for two more memorable concerts in June 1976. Taking to the stage with Yvon Deschamps, Jean-Pierre Ferland and Claude Léveillée, Vigneault and Charlebois presented the show Une fois Cinq to an enthusiastic audience of 300,000. The live album recorded on this occasion went on to win the coveted "Prix de l’Académie Charles Cros" later that year. Meanwhile, things were progressing in Vigneault's personal life, too. In September he walked down the aisle with his partner, Alison Foy, with whom he had already had three children.

Vigneault was still closely associated with the independence movement in Quebec and his song J’ai planté un chêne (I Planted an Oak Tree) accompanied the Parti Québécois on their rise to power in November 1976. Vigneault's single I Went to the Market also enjoyed popular success.

While continuing to pursue a busy recording and performing career (playing 50 dates at Le Bobino and almost as many in Montreal in 1977), Vigneault branched out in a new direction in 1978, beginning to write songs and stories for children. This gave rise to Les quatre saisons de Piquot and many other children's adventures. Vigneault's faithful pianist and arranger Gaston Rochon moved on to other things at this point and he was replaced by Robert Bibeau, who supervised the recording of Avec les mots du dimanche, a double album named after Vigneault's show at the Grand Théâtre de Québec in October 1979. The following year, a host of French stars including Pauline Julien, Fabienne Thibeault and Nicole Croisille paid tribute to Quebec's national bard on an album entitled Je vous entends chanter.

In May 1980, Vigneault and the independence movement suffered a setback when a referendum on according greater autonomy to Quebec was won by the 'no' camp. Vigneault was very upset at this result.

The national bard of Quebec

The 80s was to be the decade in which Vigneault's prolific work as a poet and singer won critical recognition both at home and abroad. In September 1980, a host of singers and musicians paid homage to Vigneault at a special tribute concert, Je vous entends chanter, staged at La Place des Nations in Montreal. Then, in 1982, the Arts Council of Canada gave him a special award for the work he had accomplished, "expressing the soul of his contemporaries over more than 25 years." The Académie Charles Cros acknowledged Vigneault's records for children in 1983, awarding him its "Prix in honorem" and the following year France awarded him the "Légion d’honneur."

Following the release of a new album entitled Un jour, je ferai mon grand cerf-volant, Vigneault moved to Paris for a year, accompanied by his wife and children. This proved to be a busy year with an anthology of his texts published by French company Le Seuil, and an extensive tour that took him the length and breadth of France. Vigneault returned to Quebec in 1986 where he recorded a new album entitled Les îles. Meanwhile, he was busy working on a new show, Le temps de dire, which featured him singing, reciting and dancing. The show proved a big hit and Vigneault gave some 250 performances of it in Europe over the next two years before appearing at the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde in Montreal.

A boxed set 'anthology' featuring 101 songs on six CDs was released to mark Vigneault's thirtieth anniversary in the music business. The compilation was hailed by music critics and in 1990 won another "Prix Charles Cros" to add to Vigneault's collection of awards. Later that same year the French government honoured the Quebecois star, too, making him an "Officier des Arts et Lettres" in Paris.

In November 1990, a host of international music stars gathered together to celebrate Vigneault's thirtieth anniversary, performing a special tribute show at the "Francofolies" music festival in Montreal. In 1992, Vigneault brought the house down in Montreal once again, performing to a 70,000-strong audience at celebrations to mark the 350th anniversary of Montreal. He was happy to find a whole younger generation defending the ideals and supporting the independence cause he had fought so long and hard for. But, in 1995, another referendum on the issue of greater autonomy for Quebec was won by the 'no' camp (although this time round the gap between separatists and unionists had narrowed considerably).

Vigneault was back in the music news in 1998 with a new compilation entitled Au milieu de vous which featured a series of previously unreleased songs such as Le chant du portageur. In 2000, Vigneault was back on the road with Voyagements, a new show which was captured on a double live album released in Quebec and Europe the following year.

Vigneault resurfaced in August 2003 with a new studio album entitled Au bout du cœur and, in interviews, openly wondered whether this would be his last, given the new distribution possibilities opened up by the Internet. Vigneault also made a comeback on the live circuit touring Quebec with a new show in the autumn of 2003. He paid a visit to his French fans, performing at the Auditorium Saint-Germain in March 2004.

March 2004