Béatrice "Betty" Bonifassi (born 1971) is a Canadian vocalist based in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. She has a deep,

contralto A contralto () is a classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range is the lowest of their voice type, voice types. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare, similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to ...

singing voice, sometimes referred to as "masculine",Bernier, Sophie. "Beast", ''CHYZ FM'', Mar 7, 2008
(French text) Retrieved 5 November 2008McMahon, Rob. "Beast's creepy sound",''Metro'', Oct 17, 2008
Retrieved 5 November 2008 which has been compared to that of

Shirley Bassey Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey (; born 8 January 1937) is a Welsh singer. Known for her career longevity, powerful voice and recording the James Bond music, theme songs to three James Bond films - the only artist to officially perform more than o ...

.> Montreal's Beast pairs a famous singer with a beatsmith to the stars", ''Montreal Mirror'', Mar 13 – Mar 19, 2008, Vol. 23 No. 38">Charpentier, Lorraine. "Bêtes de scène >> Montreal's Beast pairs a famous singer with a beatsmith to the stars", ''Montreal Mirror'', Mar 13 – Mar 19, 2008, Vol. 23 No. 38
Retrieved 5 November 2008 Retrieved 5 November 2008
Retrieved 6 May 2011 Bonifassi has performed music of many styles in both English and French—from

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

, to

traditional music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

, to

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

, to

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

. In 2003 she gained international exposure when she provided the singing voices for the title characters of the animated film ''

The Triplets of Belleville ''The Triplets of Belleville'' () is a 2003 animated adventure comedy-drama film written and directed by Sylvain Chomet. It was released as ''Belleville Rendez-vous'' in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The film is Chomet's first feature film a ...

(Les Triplettes de Belleville)''.Cormier, Sylvain. "Ben et Betty voient triple", ''Le Devoir'', Jan 9, 2004
(French text) Retrieved 5 November 2008 She has collaborated with composer and saxophonist, François D'AmoursBonifassi's interview with Monique Giroux of Radio-Canada, Sep 13, 2004
French text and audio) Retrieved 5 November 2008 and has performed and toured with musician Maxime Morin (also known as

DJ Champion Maxime Morin (born c. 1969),Martel ...

)."Oscar nominee headlines M For Montreal", ''NME news'', Oct 31, 2006
Retrieved 5 November 2008 Bonifassi appeared as a guest vocalist on Deweare's album ''High Class Trauma'' (2006),> French transplant Deweare finds momentum in Montreal", ''Montreal Mirror'', Apr 19–25, 2007, Vol. 22 No. 43">Bottenberg, Rupert. "Viable geometry, instant poetry >> French transplant Deweare finds momentum in Montreal", ''Montreal Mirror'', Apr 19–25, 2007, Vol. 22 No. 43
Retrieved 5 November 2008 and she is one half of the

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

duo

Beast Beast most often refers to: * Animal, a multicellular, eukaryotic organism in the biological kingdom Animalia * The Beast (Revelation), one of three beasts described in the Book of Revelation * Monster, a type of creature found in fiction, folklo ...

.Shenker, Jake. "BEAST in concert", ''Mondo Magazine'', Oct 1, 2008
Retrieved 5 November 2008

Personal life

Bonifassi was born in

Nice, France Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million

, to a Yugoslav mother and a father of Niçois-

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

descent. Raised in a bilingual household, and having studied foreign languages at university, she became interested in other cultures and their traditional music. Bonifassi's interview with Danielle Leblanc of Radio-Canada, Sep 17, 2004
(French text and audio) Retrieved 5 November 2008 She has been singing and writing music for two decades.Sasseville, Andreanne. "Beast", ''Urban Male Magazine'', 2008
Retrieved 5 November 2008 In 1997, Bonifassi met her now ex-husband, Québécois composer

Benoît Charest Benoît Charest (; born in 1964) is a Canadian guitarist and film score composer from Quebec. He is best known for the soundtrack of the animated film '' The Triplets of Belleville (Les Triplettes de Belleville)'' (2003), for which he won a Cés ...

, while singing

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

covers at a Montreal jazz club. Later that year she moved from France to Montreal to join Charest, and has lived in the Canadian city ever since.

Work with DJ Champion

In the late 1990s, Benoît Charest and Montreal DJ and musician Maxime Morin became co-owners of Ben & Max Studios – a company specializing in

jingles A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meanings that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...

and soundtracks. In 2001 Morin sold his share in the company back to Charest in order to continue his own musical career under the pseudonym

DJ Champion Maxime Morin (born c. 1969),Martel ...

, however he remained in contact with Bonifassi and Charest: Morin performed bass and percussion on the song " Belleville Rendez-vous", from the 2003 animated film, ''

'' and he also performed this song live with Bonifassi and Charest at the

76th Academy Awards The 76th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best 2003 in film, films of 2003 and took place on February 29, 2004, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood ...

ceremony—Morin played percussion on a bicycle during the performance.Devlin, Mike, "Laptop loaded, DJ hits the road", ''Times Colonist'', 24 March 2007Benson, Denise, "Champion & His G-Strings", ''Eye Weekly'', 23 November 2006 In 2004, Bonifassi collaborated with Morin once again (performing as "DJ Champion") on his 2004 debut album, '' Chill'em All''. The album included the hit single "No Heaven" which is a soulful and bluesy song set against heavy dance beats and noisy guitar riffs. Inspired by ''Negro Songs of Protest'', Bonifassi sings a plaintive tune reminiscent of the

work songs A work song is a piece of music closely connected to a form of work, either one sung while conducting a task (usually to coordinate timing) or one linked to a task that may be a connected narrative, description, or protest song. An example is " I ...

sung by the

chain-gang A chain gang or road gang is a group of prisoners chained together to perform menial or physically challenging work as a form of punishment. Such punishment might include repairing buildings, building roads, or clearing land. The system was nota ...

s of the

American South The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is census regions United States Census Bureau. It is between the Atlantic Ocean and the ...

in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.> Montreal's Champion goes for gold", ''Montreal Mirror'', Jan 27 – Feb 2.2005 Vol. 20 No. 31">Bottenburg, Rupert. "Personal Best >> Montreal's Champion goes for gold", ''Montreal Mirror'', Jan 27 – Feb 2.2005 Vol. 20 No. 31
Retrieved 5 November 2008 "I heard Betty singing those blues songs, and she was the girl for that job," said Morin. With the success of ''Chill'em All'', Bonifassi toured for over two years with "Champion & His G-Strings".Robillard Laveaux, Christian. "Bonifassi... Do", ''Voir'', Feb 7, 2008
(French text) Retrieved 5 November 2008 In 2008 the pair recorded a version of 1957

Screamin' Jay Hawkins Jalacy J. "Screamin' Jay" Hawkins (July 18, 1929 – February 12, 2000) was an American singer-songwriter, musician, actor, film producer, and boxer. Famed chiefly for his powerful, shouting vocal delivery and wildly theatrical performances of s ...

hit "

I Put a Spell on You "I Put a Spell on You" is a 1956 song recorded by "Screamin' Jay" Hawkins and co-written with Herb Slotkin. The selection became a classic cult song, covered by a variety of artists. It was Hawkins's greatest commercial success, reportedly su ...

" to be used as the theme song of the Québécois film ''

Truffles A truffle is the fruiting body of a subterranean ascomycete fungus, one of the species of the genus ''Tuber''. More than one hundred other genera of fungi are classified as truffles including '' Geopora'', '' Peziza'', '' Choiromyces'', and ' ...

''.Rhéaume, Julie. "Le film «Truffe» ouvrira le festival Fantasia le 3 juillet", ''Showbizz.net'', Apr 16, 2008
(French text) Retrieved 5 November 2008"Truffe au Festival Fantasia", ''LeCinema.ca'', Apr 16, 2008
(French text) Retrieved 5 November 2008

''Les Triplettes de Belleville''

Bonifassi and Charest collaborated on the soundtrack for the animated film ''

(Les Triplettes de Belleville)''; the film's main song, " Belleville Rendez-vous", was nominated for an Oscar in 2004 and the pair performed the song, along with Maxime Morin, at the

ceremony. Bonifassi stated in a 2004 interview that the experience of performing at the Oscars was "''magnifique!''" "It was a magic moment that I shared with my husband; I thought it was brilliant!" Her work on the Oscar-nominated film "opened doors" for her. After the buzz following her Oscars performance, she got many offers from large record companies in North America and abroad, to record jingles and an album in the same Django/

chanson réaliste ''Chanson réaliste'' (, ''realist song'') refers to a style of music performed in France primarily from the 1880s until the end of World War II.Sweeney, Regina M. (2001). ''Singing Our Way to Victory: French Cultural Politics and Music During the ...

style; Bonifassi turned down the offers for fear of being pigeonholed, but has stated that she does not discount recording in this style in the future.

Beast

Bonifassi joined forces with percussionist, record producer, and fellow French

expat An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. The term often refers to a professional, skilled worker, or student from an affluent country. However, it may also refer to retirees, artists and ...

Jean-Philippe Goncalves, to form the band Beast. They released their first album in November 2008. Beast's sound has been compared to

trip hop Trip hop is a musical genre that has been described as a psychedelic music, psychedelic fusion of hip hop music, hip hop and electronica with slow tempos and an atmospheric sound. The style emerged as a more experimental music, experimental var ...

, only with a bit more aggression. Bonifassi's vocal stylings also lean more towards

rap Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates " rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backin ...

and

spoken-word Spoken word is an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a 20th-century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of recitation ...

. Bonifassi is the main songwriter and the music is composed and produced by Goncalves. Canadian singer-songwriter

Simon Wilcox Simon Wilcox is a Canadian poet and songwriter, based in Los Angeles, California. Her songs have been recorded and released by Blink 182, Britney Spears, Carly Rae Jepsen, Enrique Iglesias, Miranda Lambert, The Used, Nick Jonas, Camila Cabello, ...

also assisted Bonifassi (whose native tongue is French) with Beast's lyrics, which are all performed in English. "Simon really understood my dark side and the sadness of the moment," says Bonifassi. "I really wanted to sing something lyrically rich and powerful." Goncalves has also stated that the name Beast suits their project very well: "Betty is a real beast," he jokes, "a ." Beast's debut album was made available on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

as of 4 November 2008; its official commercial release was 18 November 2008. At the end of 2010, Bonifassi and Goncalves announced that they would be taking an indefinite break from the Beast project. (French text) Retrieved 6 May 2011Léveillée, Antoine. "À la prochaine, si Dieu le veut", ''Voir'', Dec 9, 2010
(French text) Retrieved 6 May 2011 Although when asked in a June 2011 interview for ''

Voir ''Voir'' was a francophone alternative weekly newspaper in Montreal, Quebec, published by Communications Voir. ''Voir'' was founded by Pierre Paquet in November 1986. The first issue of the newspaper was published on 27 November 1986. Later o ...

'' whether her break from Beast was a final one Bonifassi replied: ''"Disons que le retour de Beast n'est pas dans mes plans actuels"'' ("Let's say the return of Beast is not my current plans.")Robillard-Laveaux, Olivier. "Béatrice Bonifassi - Une rencontre réaliste ", ''Voir'', Jun 16, 2011
(French text) Retrieved 12 September 2011 Goncalves stated in an interview that the split was not due to any quarrel between himself and Bonifassi. Citing lagging album sales, frustration with the record industry, the tiresome effects of touring, and familial commitments (Bonifassi's son was 9 years old at the time of the split), the bandmates said they would be working separately on their own local projects.

Solo work

During an interview with Danielle Leblanc of

Radio-Canada Radio-Canada may refer to: * CBC/Radio-Canada, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation *Ici Radio-Canada Télé, the CBC's main French-language television network *Ici Radio-Canada Première Ici Radio-Canada Première (formerly Première Chaîne) i ...

in 2004, she discussed an album she was working on with the composer Francois D'Amour. She described the album as being very "multi-ethnic, with lots of electronic machines" and that she was hoping to find a major record label for its release. On 24 September of that same year, she performed some of these songs during a live solo performance at Montreal's Cabaret Music Hall. After Bonifassi and Goncalves announced that they would be taking an indefinite hiatus from the Beast project in late 2010, Bonifassi began to focus on solo projects including a performance at the ''Festival Montréal en lumière'' on 24 February 2011—making it her first solo performance since her break with Beast.Rhéaume, Julie. "Montréal en lumière: Carole Bouquet, coprésidente d'honneur", ''Branchez-Vous'', Dec 1, 2010
(French text) Retrieved 6 May 2011Rezzonico, Philippe. "Le laboratoire de Béatrice Bonifassi", ''Rue Frontenac'', Feb 17, 2011
(French text) Retrieved 6 May 2011 Her performance included renditions of songs by

Édith Piaf Édith Giovanna Gassion (19 December 1915 – 10 October 1963), known as Édith Piaf (), was a French singer and lyricist best known for performing songs in the cabaret and modern chanson genres. She is widely regarded as France's greatest popu ...

and Berthe Sylva, as well as a song by the Franco-Monégasque composer

Léo Ferré Léo Ferré (; 24 August 1916 – 14 July 1993) was a Monégasque poet and composer, and a dynamic and controversial live performer. He released some forty albums over this period, composing the music and the majority of the lyrics. He released ...

. Bonifassi performed at the 2011 ''FrancoFolies'' festival held in Montreal, first as part of a performance dedicated to

Serge Gainsbourg Serge Gainsbourg (; born Lucien Ginsburg; 2 April 1928 – 2 March 1991) was a French singer-songwriter, actor, composer, and director. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop, he was renowned for often provocative rel ...

on 15 June, then in her own solo performances on the 17th and 18th.Rodriguez, Juan. "Deep talent lineup includes nod to past greats", ''Montreal Gazette'', Apr 12, 2011
Retrieved 6 May 2011 (French text) Retrieved 6 May 2011 (French text) Retrieved 12 September 2011 In 2014, Bonifassi released a self-titled CD in which she interpreted traditional songs of slaves and prisoners, plus two original cuts, "Working It Down" and "How Does It Feel". In 2016, she followed up with a similar CD entitled ''Lomax'', after ethnomusicologist

Alan Lomax Alan Lomax (; January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was an American ethnomusicologist, best known for his numerous field recordings of folk music during the 20th century. He was a musician, folklorist, archivist, writer, scholar, political activ ...

, who had archived the traditional songs in question (see ''

Slave Songs of the United States ''Slave Songs of the United States'' was a collection of African American music consisting of 136 songs. Published in 1867, it was the first, and most influential, collection of spirituals to be published. The collectors of the songs were No ...

''.) In 2018, in collaboration with

Robert Lepage Robert Lepage (born December 12, 1957) is a Canadian playwright, actor, film director, and stage director. Early life Lepage was raised in Quebec City. At age five, he was diagnosed with a rare form of alopecia, which caused complete hair lo ...

, she created '' SLĀV'', a show based on those songs, which launched at the

Montreal Jazz Festival The Festival international de Jazz de Montréal is an annual jazz festival held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Montreal Jazz Fest holds the 2004 Guinness World Record as the world's largest jazz festival. Every year it features roughly 3,000 ar ...

. The show caused public protest on the basis of accusations of cultural appropriation and was subsequently canceled by the festival on Bonifassi's decision and out of concern for public safety.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonifassi, Beatrice 1970s births Living people French emigrants to Quebec French women singer-songwriters French singer-songwriters Singers from Montreal Musicians from Nice Canadian people of Italian descent Canadian people of Yugoslav descent French-language singers of Canada 21st-century French singers 21st-century French women singers 21st-century Canadian women singers Year of birth missing (living people)