Monique Leyrac
Monique Leyrac | |
---|---|
Born | Monique Tremblay (1928-02-26)26 February 1928 Montreal, Quebec |
Died | 15 December 2019(2019-12-15) (aged 91) Cowansville, Quebec |
Nationality (legal) | Canadian |
Occupation(s) | Singer, actress |
Known for | "Mon Pays" |
Awards | Order of Canada National Order of Quebec Governor General's Performing Arts Award |
Monique Leyrac, OC CQ (26 February 1928 – 15 December 2019) was a Canadian singer and actress [1] who popularized many songs by French-Canadian composers.[2]
Early life
Leyrac was born Monique Tremblay in Montreal, Quebec.[3] She helped raise her siblings while her mother worked as a milliner, while educating herself by reading poetry and fiction. She studied drama with Madame Maubourg.[4]
Career
Leyrac began her acting career on the radio in 1943, using her knowledge of music and drama.[3] In 1965 she won the grand prize at the Sopot International Song Festival in Poland for her rendition of Gilles Vigneault's "Mon Pays".[5] That year she also won first prize at the Festival de la Chanson at Ostende, Belgium. In 1967 she sang at Expo 67.[6]
Leyrac was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1967 and was the subject of an hour-long documentary on CBC television in 1972.[3] She received the 1979 Prix de musique Calixa-Lavallée. She recorded ten albums of music,[6] and in the 1980s she began to write and stage one-woman shows in which she sang and acted.[7]
In 1997, Leyrac received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award, Canada's highest honour in the performing arts.[8] In 1998, she was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec.[9]
In 2007 a boxed set, Leyrac/La diva des années 60, was released, containing three albums of her performed songs, many by Quebec composers, as well as a DVD with a short documentary of her life and career.[10] In 2013 Leyrac was presented with the Prix Denise-Pelletier for her outstanding career in the performing arts.[11][12]
In 2019 a biography of Leyrac's life, written by François Dompierre, was released.[13]
Leyrac had been married for twenty-five years to actor-director Jean Dalmain, from 1952 to 1977.[14] Leyrac died on 15 December 2019 in Cowansville, Quebec at the age of 91.[15]
References
- ^ Catherine Pépin, "Exclusif : une rencontre intime avec Monique Leyrac, à écouter dès maintenant". Ici Radio-Canada, 26 February 2019.
- ^ "If Piaf Was France, Leyrac is Quebec". Victoria Daily Colonist, via Newspaper Archives. 27 October 1973 - Page 115.
- ^ a b c Alexis Luko, Rachelle Taylor and Hélène Plouffe, "Monique Leyrac". The Canadian Encyclopedia, 12 March 2007.
- ^ Jacques Lanctôt, "Magnifique Monique Leyrac". Le Journal de Montreal, 23 June 2019
- ^ Carlotta Hacker. The Book of Canadians. Hurtig; 1 October 1983. ISBN 978-0-88830-243-4. p. 130.
- ^ a b Bill Marshall. France and the Americas. ABC-CLIO; 2005. ISBN 978-1-85109-411-0. p. 720.
- ^ "Leyrac's one-woman performance managed only sporadic rapport". Winnipeg Free Press, Newspaper Archives. 27 November 1988 - Page 22
- ^ "Monique Leyrac biography". Governor General's Performing Arts Awards Foundation. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
- ^ "La chanteuse Monique Leyrac est décédée". TVA Nouvelles, 15 December 2019.
- ^ "Monique Leyrac: la diva des années 60". Ici Radio-Canada, 8 May 2007.
- ^ Luc Boulanger, "Prix du Québec: divine Monique Leyrac". La Presse, 29 October 2013.
- ^ Martin Ouellet, "Monique Leyrac et Paul Gérin-Lajoie honorés lors de la remise des Prix du Québec". L'Actualité, 12 November 2013
- ^ Mario Girard, "Leyrac vue par Dompierre". La Presse, 8 April 2019.
- ^ Vigneault, Alexandre (1 April 2010). "Décès de Jean Dalmain (1915-2010)".
- ^ Mayssa Ferah, "La chanteuse Monique Leyrac s’éteint à 91 ans". La Presse, 15 December 2019.
External links
- Monique Leyrac at IMDb
- v
- t
- e
- Félix Leclerc (1977)
- Bernard Lagacé [fr; nl] (1978)
- Jean Duceppe (1979)
- Ludmilla Chiriaeff (1980)
- Jean Papineau-Couture (1981)
- Lionel Daunais (1982)
- Gilles Vigneault (1983)
- Fernand Nault (1984)
- Jean Gascon (1985)
- Colette Boky (1986)
- Jean-Louis Roux (1987)
- John Newmark [de; fi; fr] (1988)
- Jeanne Renaud (1989)
- Joseph Rouleau (1990)
- Gilles Tremblay (1991)
- Vincent Warren (1992)
- Monique Mercure (1993)
- Martine Époque (1994)
- Walter Joachim [fr] (1995)
- François Morel (1996)
- Raymond Lévesque (1997)
- Gilles Pelletier (1998)
- Jean-Pierre Ronfard (1999)
- André Brassard (2000)
- Paul Buissonneau (2001)
- Édouard Lock (2002)
- Robert Lepage (2003)
- Walter Boudreau (2004)
- Clémence DesRochers (2005)
- Hélène Loiselle (2006)
- Paul Hébert (2007)
- Anik Bissonnette (2008)
- Roland Lepage [arz; fr] (2009)
- Marie Chouinard (2010)
- Yannick Nézet-Séguin (2011)
- Leonard Cohen (2012)
- Monique Leyrac (2013)
- Denis Marleau (2014)
- Marie-Hélène Falcon (2015)
- Lorraine Vaillancourt (2016)
- Louise Lecavalier (2017)
- Diane Dufresne (2018)
- Angèle Dubeau (2019)
- Yvon Deschamps (2020)
- Michel Rivard (2021)
- Charles Richard-Hamelin (2022)
- Marie Tifo (2023)