Christine Charbonneau (18 October 1943 – 29 May 2014) was a

French Canadian French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fre ...

singer and songwriter. La Presse Canadienne (CP/PC),

Most popular songs

''Du fil des aiguilles et du coton'' recorded by France Castel in 1972 and sung by

Céline Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...

in 1973, on her first public appearance at the age of five, at the wedding of her brother Michel. ''Tout va trop vite'' recorded by

Patsy Gallant Patricia Gallant (born August 15, 1948, in Campbellton, New Brunswick) is a Canadian pop singer and musical theatre actress. Of Acadian ancestry, she has recorded and performed in both English and French. Early life Patsy Gallant was one of t ...

in 1972. ''Les femmes'' (Qu'y a-t-il dans le coeur des femmes) recorded by Patsy Gallant in 1974 and covered by

Sheila Sheila (alternatively spelled Shelagh and Sheelagh) is a common feminine given name, derived from the Irish name ''Síle'', which is believed to be a Gaelic form of the Latin name Caelia, the feminine form of the Roman clan name Caelius, mean ...

in France in 1976. ''Donne l'amour'' recorded by

Ginette Reno Ginette Reno (born Ginette Raynault; 28 April 1946) is a Canadian author, composer, singer, and actress. She has received nominations for the Genie and Gemini Awards and is a multi-recipient of the Juno Award. She is a gold and platinum selli ...

in 1974. ''Censuré'' recorded by Christine Charboneau in 1975. Cécile Tremblay-Matte,

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some m ...

, recognizes Christine Charbonneau in her book ''La chanson écrite au féminin'', as the French Canadian female songwriter who had the most songs recorded by different artists in Québec during the period of 1960 to 1980.

Early career

Born in Montreal, Quebec in 1943, Charbonneau wrote her first song at the age of twelve. She began singing professionally at La Butte à Mathieu in Val-David,

Québec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

in 1959. She accompanied herself with a guitar like her mentor

Felix Leclerc Felix may refer to: * Felix (name), people and fictional characters with the name Places * Arabia Felix is the ancient Latin name of Yemen * Felix, Spain, a municipality of the province Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, ...

and was considered to be one of the icons of Québec song. Charbonneau was referred to as a

chansonnier A chansonnier ( ca, cançoner, oc, cançonièr, Galician and pt, cancioneiro, it, canzoniere or ''canzoniéro'', es, cancionero) is a manuscript or printed book which contains a collection of chansons, or polyphonic and monophonic settings ...

. She toured for several years in the Québec coffee houses called "les boites à chansons," which were proliferating at the time. Charbonneau started giving songs to different singers, such as Ginette Ravel, one of the major artists of this epoch. She recorded Charbonneau's song ''L'amour'', on her album "L'amour c'est comme un jour," released in 1963 on RCA Victor Records. Her song ''Je te chercherai'' was recorded by Renée Claude on (Renée Claude Volume 2), Select Records. Charbonneau made her first album with Sélect Records in 1963 : The title was "Les insolences d'une jeune femme". On 24 June 1965, Charbonneau was invited to participate at the Saint-John-Baptiste Celebration Day, (today the '' National Holiday) in Québec''. That year it was held exceptionally at

Jarry Park Jarry Park (french: Parc Jarry) is an urban park in the Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension borough of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Jarry Park has total area of 36 hectares. It is considered by the City of Montreal as one of its large par ...

in the north of Montréal. Surrounded by other artists, Charbonneau performed in front of more than forty thousand people. Around 1967, as the "boites à chansons" were facing decline, Charbonneau continued her career at

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined belo ...

and

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French- ...

. She was invited several times on the Coast to Coast CBC Television series Chansons (TV series) produced by Anton Van de Water, where she was singing in company of many other artists including

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell ( Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. Among the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her st ...

Jacques Blanchet, Margo McKinnon,

Pauline Julien Pauline Julien, (May 23, 1928October 1, 1998), nicknamed "La Renarde", was a singer, songwriter, actress, feminist activist and Quebec sovereigntist. Born in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Julien was the companion of the poet and Québec provincial ...

and

Gordon Lightfoot Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. (born November 17, 1938) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music. He is credited with helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 1 ...

, the Travelers In 1968, she made a third album entitled ''Christine'' with Gamma Records, and François Dompierre was her orchestra director. Later he composed a few songs for her. In 1968, Charbonneau had her first Télévision Summer Series at CBC SRC and co-hosted with Jacques Blanchet the musical show "Tête heureuse". In 1969, she co-hosted with Blanchet a

chanson A (, , french: chanson française, link=no, ; ) is generally any lyric-driven French song, though it most often refers to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval and Renaissance music. The genre had origins in the monophonic so ...

radio show at

: "Tour à tour". In August 1969, Charbonneau represented Canada at the Spa Festival in Belgium but lost the contest.

Composing for others

The 1970s are the most intensive years of her songwriter career, being marked by the recording of many of her songs with different artists. ''Du fil des aiguilles et du coton'', ''Je le vois dans ma soupe'', ''Ça m'fait du bien'' recorded by

France Castel France Castel, née Bégin (born August 31, 1944) in Sherbrooke, Quebec) is a Canadian singer, actress and broadcaster. Music Castel began in the music business by recording an album, ''Toi et moi amoureux'', as a duo with Jean Beaulne of Les Baron ...

on Profil Records and Trans-World Records, reached the Top Twenty Charts in Quebec and her 1973, 1974, 1975 albums are mostly Charbonneau's songs.

made the charts with ''Tout va trop vite'', ''Thank you come again'' (in French), ''Un jour comme les autres'', ''Le lit qui craque'', songs that gave a start to Gallant's French-language career in Quebec. In 1974 Charbonneau gave to Patsy Gallant her original song ''Les femmes'' (Qu'y a-t-il dans le cœur des femmes) which was recorded on her 1974 album "Toi l'enfant," released by Columbia Records. ''Les femmes'' was covered by the popular French singer

, who released the single ''Les femmes'' in 1976 with Carrere Records and topped the French Top Twenty. It could be found also on the album ''L'amour qui brûle en moi''. In 1974, Charbonneau wrote a first song for

, ''Donne l'amour,'' which was recorded on her album "Aimons-nous". Also in 1979, Reno recorded ''Oublie-moi'' on her album "Je ne suis qu'une chanson," produced by Melon-Miel Records, In 1980, she received 3 awards (Félix), including the bestseller album of the year (350,000 copies), and in a few months sold albums.

Michel Louvain Michel Louvain, (July 12, 1937April 14, 2021) was a Canadian singer most popular in the 1960s and 1970s.

and Claude Valade were back on the Quebec charts with songs written by Charbonneau. ''La dame en bleu'' on Mirabel Records was for Louvain one of the greatest hits of his career. ''Viens t'étendre aux creux de mes bras'', ''Aide-moi à passer la nuit'', ''J'ai dit non'', ''Quand tes yeux'', ''C'est parce que je t'aime '', ''Est-ce si facile '', ''Le chemin de tes rêves'' – all songs who have featured in the Top Ten on the Quebec charts and were among Claude Valade's hits that became standards on Quebec radio airplay. Charbonneau's biggest hit as a singer was her disco song of 1975, ''Censuré''. En 2008, the song ''Les femmes'' sung by Sheila was one of the chosen song for the musical background of the film ''Stella'', by Sylvie Verheyder.«Stella» dossier pédagogique, Internet Charbonneau died of cancer on 29 May 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Charbonneau, Christine 1943 births 2014 deaths Canadian women singer-songwriters Deaths from cancer in Quebec French Quebecers Polydor Records artists French-language singers of Canada Singers from Montreal Songwriters from Quebec Writers from Montreal 20th-century Canadian women singers