Marie-Mai (born Marie-Mai Bouchard on July 7, 1984, in

Varennes Varennes may refer to: Canada * Varennes, Quebec * Varennes, Winnipeg, a neighbourhood of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada * Varennes County, a county established 1881 in the disputed District of Keewatin, Canada France Varennes is the name of sev ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

) is a Canadian singer from

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 was initially known as one of the finalists of the first season of the Quebec

reality show Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

Star Académie ''Star Académie'' is a Canadian reality television series that started in 2003, aimed primarily at the Quebec television audience, featuring an array of young women and men under the age of 30 competing for the title of the next solo singing sens ...

''.

Background

Marie-Mai was born to an actor father. Marie-Mai began her interest in music in her early years when practicing piano lessons and also participated in musical theatre. Shortly, she began singing and her grandmother noticed her talent. In the following years, she would help Marie-Mai improve her singing abilities even further. At that time, her grandmother suggested to her that she audition for a new competition, ''

''. Prior to this, in 2001, she would start to perform in shows at

's Théâtre Musical in the ''Passion intense'' show. She became a finalist in the 2003 edition, in which she was immediately noticed by her pop-rock style. She finished third behind Marie-Elaine Thibert, the runner-up of the competition, and

Wilfred Le Bouthillier Wilfred Le Bouthillier (born May 12, 1978) is an Acadian singer from the town of Tracadie-Sheila, New Brunswick, and the winner of both the 2003 edition of ''Star Académie'', a French Canadian reality show for aspiring singers, and the 2021 edition ...

, the eventual winner. After the ''Star Académie'' tour ended in 2004, she was part of the Montreal cast of

Jonathan Larson Jonathan David Larson (February 4, 1960 – January 25, 1996) was an American composer, lyricist and playwright, most famous for writing the musicals ''Rent (musical), Rent'' and ''Tick, Tick... Boom!'', which explored the social issues of mult ...

's rock-opera musical ''

Rent Rent may refer to: Economics *Renting, an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property *Economic rent, any payment in excess of the cost of production *Rent-seeking, attempting to increase one's share of e ...

'', performed at the Olympia Theatre. In September 2011, she married her producer,

Fred St-Gelais Fred St-Gelais (born Frédéric St-Gelais, on September 2, 1974 in Chibougamau, Quebec) is a Canadian songwriter, television music composer, record producer and multi-instrumentalist, currently living in Montreal, Quebec. Biography Early work Fr ...

, in Hawaii. The couple were engaged since 2006. The pair ended the relationship in early 2016, and later divorced. In December 2011, Marie-Mai participated in the anti-bullying campaign ''Ça finit là'' ("It ends here"), and made a video where she revealed that she had experienced bullying because of her

ADHD Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and emotional dysregulation that are excessive and pervasive, impairing in multiple ...

. Marie-Mai has been in a relationship with ''

La Voix ''La Voix'' () is a francophone Canada, Canadian reality television, reality talent show as part of the international television series franchise ''The Voice (franchise), The Voice'', based on the original The Voice of Holland, Dutch version o ...

'' musical director David Laflèche since 2016, and she gave birth to their daughter on February 15, 2017.

Career

''Inoxydable'' (2004-2005)

Her debut album ''

Inoxydable ''Inoxydable'' is the first studio album by Canadian singer Marie-Mai, released on 28 September 2004. The album was then released in France on April 10, 2006. The album received platinum certification for selling more than 120,000 copies. Track ...

'', produced by

, was released on September 28, 2004. Over 120,000 albums were sold in Quebec (platinum certification) alone while the album was released in France in 2006. Several singles climbed high in the Quebec charts, including the songs "Il faut que tu t'en ailles" and "Encore une Nuit", which reached the top of the Radio Énergie charts. In 2005, she won the prize for best Francophone music video at the MuchMusic Video Awards with "Il faut que tu t'en ailles". In support of her album, Marie-Mai played 87 shows and released a DVD of her concert, La Tournée Inoxydable.

Dangereuse attraction (2007-2009)

Her second album, ''Dangereuse attraction'', was released on August 28, 2007. In August 2008, Marie-Mai was awarded gold certification for selling over 50,000 copies of this album in Canada. The record was eventually certified platinum. On June 24, 2009, Marie-Mai featured for the first time in the Quebec National Holiday celebrations in Montreal, simulcast on the Radio-Canada Television and radio. She performed her hits "Mentir" and "Emmène-moi", a cover of the song "Lady Marmalade", and an excerpt of the unofficial national anthem of Quebec, "

Gens du pays "Gens du pays" is a Québécois song that is often considered the unofficial national anthem of Quebec. Written by poet and singer-songwriter Gilles Vigneault, and with music co-written by Gaston Rochon, it was first performed by Vigneault on June ...

" by

Gilles Vigneault Gilles Vigneault (; born 27 October 1928) is a Canadian poet, Publishing, publisher, singer-songwriter, and Quebec nationalism, Quebec nationalist and Quebec sovereignty movement, sovereigntist. Two of his songs are considered by many to be Qu ...

. On July 1, 2009, during the festivities of

Canada Day Canada Day, formerly known as Dominion Day, is the national day of Canada. A Public holidays in Canada, federal statutory holiday, it celebrates the anniversary of Canadian Confederation which occurred on July 1, 1867, with the passing of the B ...

in Ottawa broadcast on the

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 ...

and

CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...

networks, Marie Mai was invited to sing three songs. Originally, the English-language channel broadcast did not include her first song, "Mentir". CBC eventually reversed its decision following the rehearsals and instead decided to broadcast all three songs.

Version 3.0 (2009-2011)

On September 26, 2009, she released her third album, ''Version 3.0''. She received a third gold record on December 7, 2009, for having sold 40,000 copies of this album. Among her compositions present on the album are "Rebatir notre histoire" and "C'est moi". On February 28, 2010, she sang "Emmène-moi" at the

2010 Winter Olympics closing ceremony The closing ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics took place on February 28, 2010, beginning at 5:30 pm PST (01:30 UTC, March 1) at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was the first Olympic Closing Ceremony held in ...

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

. In the same year, she featured in

David Usher David Usher (born April 24, 1966) is a Canadian musician, best-selling author, keynote speaker, and activist best known as the front man for the band Moist. He has also released a number of solo albums. He is the founder of Reimagine AI, an art ...

's "Je repars". The song stayed in the best positions of the Top 100

Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems Broadcast Data Systems (also known as Nielsen BDS, BDS or Luminate BDS) was a service that tracks radio, television and internet airplay of songs. The service, which is a unit of MRC Data, is a contributing factor to North American charts publishe ...

chart for over a month. In 2010 she contributed the song "Your Favourite Killer" to the soundtrack for

Yves Simoneau Yves Simoneau (; born October 28, 1955) is a Canadian film and television director. Simoneau was born in Quebec City, Quebec. Recognition His acclaimed 1986 crime drama '' Intimate Power (Pouvoir intime)'' garnered multiple Genie Awards nominat ...

's comedy film '' The Bait (L'Appât)''. In 2011, her album ''Version 3.0'' was certified platinum, with 80,000 copies sold. She also recorded a duet in the same year with

Simple Plan Simple Plan is a Canadian rock band formed in Montreal, Quebec, in 1999. The band's current lineup consists of Pierre Bouvier (lead vocals, studio bass guitar), Chuck Comeau (drums), Jeff Stinco (lead guitar), and Sébastien Lefebvre (rhyt ...

for the song "

Jet Lag Jet lag is a temporary physiological condition that occurs when a person's circadian rhythm is out of sync with the time zone they are in, and is a typical result from travelling rapidly across multiple time zones (east–west or west–east). ...

". Later in the same year, she signed with European label and distributor Warner Music France.

Miroir (2012-2014)

Prior to her fourth album release, on February 22, 2012, she released the song "Sans cri ni haine", a French cover of "

Call Your Girlfriend "Call Your Girlfriend" is a song by Swedish recording artist Robyn, taken from her seventh studio album, '' Body Talk'' (2010). It was released as the album's second single on 1 April 2011. The song was written by Robyn, Klas Åhlund and Alexander ...

" by

Robyn Robin Miriam Carlsson (; born 12 June 1979), known professionally as Robyn (), is a Swedish singer, songwriter, record producer, and DJ. Her 1995 debut album ''Robyn Is Here'' produced two Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 top 10 single ...

, as a promotional single. Marie-Mai's official website had undergone major upgrade prior to the album. A countdown to the day of the release of the album was shown. A new logo and the album art of the fourth album were also revealed. On August 14, 2012, the first official single of the album " C.O.B.R.A." was released to radio stations, along with a 22-second teaser of the music video. As announced by herself on the same date, the new album was to be called "Miroir" and the release date was set to be September 17. "Miroir" managed to sell 22,000 units during its first week. On October 17, 2012, only a month after the album was released, a press conference was held at the Olympia Theatre in Montreal to announce that the album was certified gold for selling 40,000 copies. This press conference was also used to announce the first 2 dates at the Bell Centre of her brand new tour Tournee Miroir, due to kickoff on January 18, 2013, in

Granby, Quebec Granby () is a town in the southwestern region of Quebec east of Montreal. According to the latest statistics from the 2021 Canadian census, 2021 Canadian Census, Granby has a population of 69,025. It is the administrative center of La Haute-Yam ...

. In late 2012, the second single "Jamais ailleurs" was released to Canadian radio stations, while a more acoustic version of the song "Je cours" was chosen as the first single to promote the yet-to-be-released album in France. Marie-Mai begins 2013 by launching her fourth tour "Tournee Miroir" on January 18 in Granby, QC. The tour will see her perform in front of over 80,000 people across Quebec. She performed "C.O.B.R.A".", "Jamais ailleurs" and "Heart Attack" during the Canada Day celebrations in Ottawa on July 1, 2013. On July 22, she featured in the benefit concert for the victims of Lac-Mégantic in Lavaltrie, along with 39 other artists''.'' She began filming a new music video in mid-July. In August 2013, the trailer for the video "Différents" was released, and the full video was available on her YouTube page on September 10, 2013. She continued her Tournee Miroir tour in September at the Québec Coliseum. On May 2 and 3, she gave 2 concerts at the Bell Centre and closed her Miroir tour after 100 shows.

M (2014-2015)

In January 2014, Marie-Mai released "Jamais trop tard", a duet with

Jonas Jonas may refer to: Geography * Jonas, Netherlands, Netherlands * Jonas, Pennsylvania, United States * Jonas Ridge, North Carolina, United States Arts, entertainment, and media * Jonas Brothers, American pop rock band. ** ''Jonas'' (TV serie ...

, as the first single of her 5th album. The song reached #1 in the radio charts. The recalls of her Bell Centre shows (May 2 and 3) were used to unveil three songs of M: "Conscience", "Tourner", and "À bout portant". On May 12, 2014, M was released with some fireworks around it: 3 new music videos were revealed in the same day: "Conscience", "Tourner", and "Indivisible". Within 2 months, the record received a gold certification for 40,000 copies sold. In July 2014, Marie-Mai's Miroir tour show at the Bell Centre premiered in Quebec cinemas. "Marie-Mai live au Centre Bell : Traverser le Miroir" attracted immediate interest from her fans and was featured in 50 theatres across Quebec. In November 2014, the DVD of the show was launched, and was certified triple platinum for 30,000 copies sold.

2016-present

In 2019, Marie-Mai duetted on " The Good Ones" with Canadian

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

artist

Tebey Tebey Solomon Ottoh (born October 14, 1983), known Mononymous person, mononymously as Tebey, is a Canadian-American country music singer and multi-genre songwriter. His debut single, "We Shook Hands (Man to Man)", hit 47 on the ''Billboard (mag ...

. In 2023, she participated in an all-star recording of

Serena Ryder Serena Lauren Ryder (born December 8, 1982) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. Born in Toronto, she grew up in Millbrook, Ontario. Ryder first gained national recognition with her ballad "Weak in the Knees" in 2007 and has released eight studio ...

's single "

What I Wouldn't Do "What I Wouldn't Do" is a song performed by Canadian singer-songwriter Serena Ryder, which was released as a single in November 2012. The song was written by Ryder and Jerrod Bettis for Ryder's fifth studio album, ''Harmony (Serena Ryder album), ...

", which was released as a charity single to benefit

Kids Help Phone Kids Help Phone () is a Canadian charitable organization that provides online and telephone counselling and volunteer-led, text-based support in English and French to youth across Canada. Kids Help Phone also provides information on how to acc ...

's Feel Out Loud campaign for youth mental health. In the same year, she was cast in her first film acting role, in

Denys Arcand Georges-Henri Denys Arcand (; born June 25, 1941) is a Canadian filmmaker. During his four decades career, he became one of the most internationally-recognized director from Quebec, earning widespread acclaim and numerous accolades for his "inten ...

's forthcoming ''

Testament A testament is a document that the author has sworn to be true. In law it usually means last will and testament. Testament or The Testament can also refer to: Books * ''Testament'' (comic book), a 2005 comic book * ''Testament'', a thriller no ...

''. In 2024 she was announced as one of the judges on '' Quel talent!'', the forthcoming Quebec version of the international ''

Got Talent ''Got Talent'' is a British talent show TV format conceived and owned by Simon Cowell's Syco Entertainment. It has spawned spin-offs in over 60 countries, in what is now referred to as the 'Got Talent' format, similar to that described by Frema ...

'' franchise.

In popular culture

* She was the voice actress of Smurfette in the French-Canadian versions of The Smurfs 1 (2011) and 2 (2013). * During the closing ceremony of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, she performed Emmène-moi. * She was a coach on the Quebec version of The Voice (La Voix) alongside Ariane Moffatt, Marc Dupré and Jean-Pierre Ferland. *In January 2019, Marie-Mai first appeared as a Coach/Mentor on season 2 of Canadian TV network CTV's "

The Launch ''The Launch'' is a Canadian reality music competition created by Daniel Lachance. The series broadcast by CTV, which premiered on January 10, 2018. Each episode of the series follows five emerging musicians competing for a chance to have a d ...

", on the episode that featured

Ryan Tedder Ryan Benjamin Tedder (born June 26, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is best known as the co-founder, frontman, and lead vocalist for the pop rock band OneRepublic, while also serving as a prolific cont ...

's song, "Better". * In 2020, she was announced as the host of the Quebec edition of '' Big Brother Célebrités'', slated to air in 2021 on

Noovo Noovo is a Television in Canada, Canadian French language, French-language Terrestrial television, terrestrial television network owned by the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE Inc. The network has five Owned-and-operated station, owned-and-operated a ...

.Lysandre Dolbec
"Big Brother Célébrités: deux nouvelles participantes dévoilées!"
''En Vedette'', December 7, 2020. * In 2021, she appeared in a cellular telephone advertisement, while wearing concert costume and riding a white horse. The punch line was she was breaking up with a customer because his network access was too unreliable. * In 2024, she guest starred on the Canadian television comedy series ''

Shoresy ''Shoresy'' is a Canadian television comedy series created by and starring Jared Keeso that premiered on Crave on May 13, 2022. A spin-off of ''Letterkenny'', the series focuses on the titular character of Shoresy (Keeso) as he moves to Sudbur ...

'' as a fictionalized version of herself, the owner of a rival hockey team and one of the many Québécois celebrity girlfriends of notorious womanizer character Jean-Jacques François "JJ Frankie JJ" Jacques-Jean.Véronique Larocque
"Marie-Mai, propriétaire d’une équipe de hockey dans Shoresy"
''

La Presse is a French-language online newspaper published daily in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1884, it is now owned by an independent nonprofit trust. ' was formerly a broadsheet daily, considered a newspaper of record in Canada. Its Sunday edi ...

'', April 23, 2024.

Discography

* ''

'' (2004) * '' Dangereuse Attraction'' (2007) * '' Version 3.0'' (2009) * '' Miroir'' (2012) * '' M'' (2014) * '' Elle et moi'' (2018) * ''Sept'' (2024)

Dubbing

Awards and nominations

;

Félix Award The Félix Award ( is an award, given by the ''Association du disque, de l'industrie du spectacle québécois'' (ADISQ) on an annual basis to artists working in the music and humor industry in the Canadian province of Quebec. The award The firs ...

* 2008 Rock Album of the Year * 2010 Rock Album of the Year * 2010 Best Female Artist of the Year * 2011 Best Female Artist of the Year * 2011 Tour of the Year (Singer-Songwriter) * 2012 Popular Song of the Year « Sans cri, ni haine » * 2013 Pop Album of the year * 2013 Best Female Artist of the Year * 2014 Best Female Artist of the Year ; SOCAN Awards * 2008 SOCAN award for Pop Song - Composer

References

External links

Marie-Mai
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Marie-Mai 1984 births Canadian women rock singers Living people Singers from Quebec Participants in Canadian reality television series People from Varennes, Quebec People with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder French-language singers of Canada Warner Music France artists 21st-century Canadian women singers Canadian television hosts Star Academy participants