Louise Forestier (born Louise Belhumeur on August 10, 1942) is a Canadian

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

and

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

Biography

Born in Shawinigan,

Quebec 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 thirtee ...

, Canada, Forestier was trained in acting at the National Theatre School in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

, but it was as a singer that she first became known in 1966, when she received the

Renée Claude Renée Claude (born Renée Bélanger; July 3, 1939 – May 12, 2020) was a Canadian actress and singer Denise Ménard, Suzanne Thomas and Benoît L'Herbier"Renée Claude" ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'', January 20, 2010. who was known as an inter ...

Trophy from

Le Patriote ''The Patriot'' (French: ''Le patriote'') is a 1938 French historical drama film directed by Maurice Tourneur and starring Harry Baur, Pierre Renoir and Suzy Prim. The film was based on a novel by Alfred Neumann which had previously been tur ...

, a ''boîte à chansons'' in east-end Montreal, and was named Discovery of the Year on the

Radio-Canada The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

TV program ''

Jeunesse Oblige ''Music Hop'' is a Canadian music television series that aired on CBC Television from 1963 to 1967. Premise Pop and rock music was featured in this series for youth, essentially a Canadian version of ''American Bandstand''. Production The firs ...

''. In 1968 she was part of the extraordinarily successful revue ''L'Osstidcho'', followed the next year by ''L'Osstidchomeurt'' with

Robert Charlebois Robert Charlebois, OC, OQ (born June 25, 1944) is a Québecois author, composer, musician, performer and actor. Charlebois was born in Montreal, Quebec. Among his best known songs are ''Lindberg'' (the duo with Louise Forestier in particular ...

Yvon Deschamps Yvon Deschamps (born July 31, 1935, in Montreal, Quebec) is a Quebec author, actor, comedian and producer best known for his monologues. His social-commentary-tinged humour propelled him to prominence in Quebec popular culture in the 1970s and 1 ...

and Mouffe. She and Charlebois recorded the landmark song "Lindberg'" and toured

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

in 1969. In April 1970 Forestier starred in the

Michel Tremblay Michel Tremblay (born 25 June 1942) is a French-Canadian novelist and playwright. Tremblay was born in Montreal, Quebec, where he grew up in the French-speaking neighbourhood of Plateau Mont-Royal; at the time of his birth, a neighbourhood wit ...

, François Dompierre musical, ''Demain matin Montréal m'attend''. She continued with acting, appearing in

Jacques Godbout Jacques Godbout, OC, CQ (born November 27, 1933) is a Canadian novelist, essayist, children's writer, journalist, filmmaker and poet. By his own admission a bit of a dabbler (''touche-à-tout''), Godbout has become one of the most important wri ...

's 1972 film '' IXE-13'', singing on the original film score. Forestier topped the Quebec charts in 1973 with a version of the folk song ''"La Prison de Londres"'', performed with

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

ist Claude Lafrance, and

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

Jacques Perron. With this song Forestier started to turn away from the hard

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

of her early career to a repertoire largely inspired by Quebec folk music, and to a more personal style, which she continued through the 1970s. In 1980 Forestier played Marie-Jeanne, the ''robot waitress'' in the Montreal production Luc Plamondon,

Michel Berger Michel Berger (born Michel Jean Hamburger; 28 November 1947 – 2 August 1992) was a French singer and songwriter. He was a leading figure of France's pop music scene for two decades as a singer; as a songwriter, he was active for such artists ...

rock opera A rock opera is a collection of rock music songs with lyrics that relate to a common story. Rock operas are typically released as concept albums and are not scripted for acting, which distinguishes them from operas, although several have been ad ...

Starmania. Two years later, with Plamondon as producer, she staged the hit show ''Je suis au rendez-vous''. This was the first of a series of shows in the 1980s, culminating in an appearance with

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

singer

Maurane Claudine Luypaerts, better known as Maurane (; 12 November 1960 – 7 May 2018), was a Francophone Belgian singer and actress. Brought to light in the 1980s with her role as Marie-Jeanne in the second version of the rock opera ''Starmania'', ...

as part of the

Francofolies de Montréal Francofolies or Les Francofolies may refer to: * Les FrancoFolies de Montréal, a music festival in Montréal, Québec, Canada * Les Francofolies de La Rochelle Les Francofolies () are an annual music festival founded in 1985 in La Rochelle, P ...

in 1989. In 1990 she appeared at the Place-des-Arts in Montreal as Émilie Nelligan, the mother of the

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

in the romantic opera ''Nelligan'' by Michel Tremblay and

André Gagnon André Gagnon (2 August 1936 – 3 December 2020) was a Canadian pianist, composer, conductor, arranger, and actor, known for his fusion of classical and pop styles,Jean-Pierre Thiollet, ''88 notes pour piano solo'', Neva Editions, 2015, p.16 ...

. Forestier defended

Yann Martel Yann Martel, (born 25 June 1963) is a Canadian author who wrote the Man Booker Prize–winning novel '' Life of Pi'', an international bestseller published in more than 50 territories. It has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide and spen ...

's novel '' Histoire de Pi'' in the French version of ''

Canada Reads ''Canada Reads'' is an annual "battle of the books" competition organized and broadcast by Canada's public broadcaster, the CBC. The program has aired in two distinct editions, the English-language ''Canada Reads'' on CBC Radio One, and the Frenc ...

'', which was broadcast on

in 2004. In March 2019, she was one of 11 singers from Quebec, alongside

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 ...

Diane Dufresne Diane Dufresne, (born 30 September 1944) is a French Canadian singer and painter, and is known for singing a large repertoire of popular Quebec songs. Dufresne was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She lived in Paris from 1965 to 1967 where ...

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 ...

, Isabelle Boulay, Luce Dufault, Laurence Jalbert, Catherine Major,

Ariane Moffatt Ariane Moffatt (born 26 April 1979) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. Known for working across multiple musical genres, Moffatt's music combines elements of electronica, jazz, folk, and pop. A francophone, she is bilingual and has recorded track ...

, Marie Denise Pelletier and Marie-Élaine Thibert, who participated in a supergroup recording of

's 1971 single "Tu trouveras la paix" after Claude's diagnosis with Alzheimer's disease was announced.

Awards and recognition

* Winner of the ''Manteau d'Arlequin'' prize, 1976, awarded by the critics of

for the best presentation of a French song. * Quebec woman of the year in the arts field, 1984 *

SOCAN The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) is a Canadian performance rights organization that represents the performing rights of more than 135,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers. The organization collects ...

Lifetime Achievement Award, 2013 * Member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the cen ...

, 2013

Discography

* 1967 - ''La boulée'' * 1968 - ''

Lindberg Lindberg is a municipality in the district of Regen in Bavaria in Germany in the immediate neighbourhood of the larger town Zwiesel. Location Lindberg lies in the Danube Forest (''Donau-Wald'') region in the middle of the Bavarian Forest on ...

'' (with

) * 1969 - ''La douce Emma'' * 1970 - ''Avec enzymes'' * 1970 - ''Demain matin, Montréal m'attend'' * 1972 - ''IXE-13'' * 1973 - ''Dans la prison de Londres'' * 1974 - ''Le reel à Ti-Guy'' * 1975 - ''Au théâtre Outremont, avec le cœur de tout nous autres'' * 1975 - ''Tour de chant'' * 1976 - ''On est bien mieux chez vous'' * 1978 - ''L'accroche-cœur'' * 1979 - ''Charlebois à la Forestier'' * 1983 - ''Prince-Arthur'' * 1987 - ''La passion selon Louise'' * 1991 - ''De bouche à oreille'' * 1993 - ''Vingt personnages en quête d'une chanteuse'' * 1993 - ''Québec love, la collection'' * 1997 - ''Forestier chante Louise'' * 2003 - ''Lumières'' * 2008 - ''Éphémère''

Filmography

Film

*'' IXE-13'' - 1972 *'' Orders (Les Ordres)'' - 1974 *'' Little Tougas (Ti-Cul Tougas)'' - 1976 *''La Postière'' *''

2 Seconds ''2 Seconds'' (french: 2 secondes) is a 1998 Canadian drama film. This film premiered in 1999 at the Sundance Film Festival.Briand, M. (2016). 2 Seconds. Retrieved December 01, 2016, from https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/2_seconds/ Written and dir ...

(2 secondes)'' - 1998

Television

* ''Le 101, ouest, avenue des Pins'' (1984) * ''Paparazzi'' (1997) * ''Réseaux'' (1998)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Forestier, Louise 1943 births Living people Canadian stage actresses Canadian television actresses Canadian film actresses Canadian musical theatre actresses People from Shawinigan Singers from Quebec French-language singers of Canada French Quebecers Actresses from Quebec Members of the Order of Canada Canadian women pop singers 20th-century Canadian women singers 21st-century Canadian women singers