Les Respectables is a Canadian rock band that was founded in

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

in 1991.

Biography

Origin

1992-1998

In 1992, Les Respectables won first place in a competition run by Montreal radio station, CHOM-FM, and the band also reached the grand final of

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: People * Torakusu Yamaha, a Japanese businessman and founder of the Yamaha Corporation Companies * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese musical instrument and audio equipment manufacturer ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organi ...

Music's "Sunfest" held in Gimli,

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

, Canada. Les Respectables subsequently released their first

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

, entitled ''No Dogs, No Band'', in 1993. Despite an exhausting promotional tour, the success of the album remains modest. The group made a resurgence in 1997 with ''Full Regalia'', a second full-length effort that was considered more mature, with a greater degree of

nuance Nuance may refer to: * Nuance (American band), 1980s dance music group * Nuance (Canadian band), 1980s pop rock group from Quebec * Nuance Communications Nuance Communications, Inc. is an American multinational computer software technology ...

present in the

songwriting A songwriter is a person who creates 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 genre and film scoring. ...

1999

In 1999, the band released its first album with the Record

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product. Labels are most often affixed to packaging and containers using an adhesive, or sewing when affix ...

, : Les Disques Passeport, ''$ = happiness'' (also known by its French title, "''$ = bonheur''"). The first

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

release from the album, "L'homme 7 Up", gained the band a considerable level of attention and the

7 Up 7 Up (stylized as 7UP worldwide) or Seven Up is an American brand of Lemon-lime drink, lemon-lime–flavored non-caffeinated soft drink. The brand and formula are owned by Keurig Dr Pepper, although the beverage is internationally distributed ...

company eventually purchased the

rights Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of freedom or Entitlement (fair division), entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal sy ...

to the song for advertising purposes. Subsequent single releases, "Amalgame", "Plaisir" and "Holà décadence" received heavy

rotation Rotation or rotational/rotary motion is the circular movement of an object around a central line, known as an ''axis of rotation''. A plane figure can rotate in either a clockwise or counterclockwise sense around a perpendicular axis intersect ...

on commercial radio that carried over into the next decade. The band then completed a tour of Quebec and a sixth single release, "L'argent fait le bonheur" (Money Is Happiness), reached the top placement in the music

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent t ...

and remained in this position for over two months.

2000-2006

In this time period the band received various awards and tackled the production of a fourth album, ''Quadrosonic'', produced in collaboration with

Gordie Johnson Gordie Johnson (born 22 May 1964) is a Canadian musician, best known as the front man for the blues/reggae rock band Big Sugar, Austin-based blues/gospel band Sit Down Servant, and southern rock band Grady. Johnson is a Grammy nominated pr ...

, former member of the Canadian band Big Sugar. In January 2003, opening for the Rolling Stones at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Les Respectables played a well-received set.

2007

On May 23, 2007, the band celebrated 15 years with the release of the DVD, ''Les Respectables 15th Anniversary, Live at the Bell Center''. Over 5,000 copies were sold. Les Respectables played on stage at the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier Center of Arts, along with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, while providing another memorable performance.

2008-2009

The group continued to go on tour in Quebec. In 2009 ''The Great Sweet Mama'', the band's new album, was produced and co-written by

, "Big Sugar"’s former front man. It was their first English album in ten years. Keyboardist,

Ian McLagan Ian Patrick McLagan (; 12 May 1945 – 3 December 2014) was an English keyboardist, best known as a member of the rock bands Small Faces and Faces. He also collaborated with the Rolling Stones and led his own band from the late 1970s. He was i ...

(

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

The Faces Faces are an English rock band formed in London in 1969. They were formed by members of Small Faces after lead singer and guitarist Steve Marriott left to form Humble Pie. The remaining Small Faces; Ian McLagan (keyboards), Ronnie Lane (bass, ...

), also lent his talent on several songs. ''The Great Sweet Mama'' was recorded in part at

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...

’s Pedernales Studios in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, US, and Mixart Studios in Montreal.

Discography

Albums

Singles

* "Sugar" feat.

– 2009 * "Sweet Mama" - 2009 * "Cette fille" - 2014

References

External links

The Respectables
{{DEFAULTSORT:Respectables, Les Musical groups established in 1991 Musical groups from Quebec City Canadian rock music groups 1991 establishments in Quebec