Claude Gauthier

Gauthier, Claude
(Joseph Pierre) Claude Gauthier. Singer, songwriter, actor, b Lac-Saguay, Que, 31 Jan 1939. His career began in 1959 when he won first prize in 'Étoiles de demain' on radio station CKVL (Verdun) with 'Le Soleil brillera demain'. The following year he made his first LP Claude Gauthier chante Claude Gauthier (Col FS-531) which included 'Ton Nom,' and 'Le Grand Six Pieds'. The last song earned him the 1961 Grand Prix du disque canadien awarded by Montreal radio station CKAC. He took part in the 1962 Mariposa Folk Festival and in 1964 he sang at Carnegie Hall, New York.

Gauthier subsequently toured Canada, and in 1967 he appeared with Monique Leyrac, Les Jérolas, and Les Feux-Follets at the Olympia in Paris, where he had performed the previous year with Gilles Vigneault, Pauline Julien, and Clémence Desrochers. In 1969 he won a Festival du disque award for his LP Cerfs -volants. (Gamma GS-119). Another tour took him to New Brunswick and into Quebec colleges in 1970.

He represented Canada at Spa, Belgium, in the Festival international de la francophonie (1972) and recorded Le Plus Beau Voyage (Gamma GS-158) in France. A book of the same title containing the lyrics of 71 of his songs was published in Montreal in 1975.

Gauthier abandoned live shows for two years, 1973-4, to work in motion pictures. During this period he acted in three films : Les Ordres, Partis pour la gloire, and La Piasse, for which he also composed the theme 'Les Beaux Instants,' which is included on the LP of that name (1975, Presqu'Île PE 7500). He had previously written the music 'Geneviève' and held the leading role opposite Geneviève Bujold in Entre la mer et l'eau douce (1966) and acted in CBC TV's 'Septième Nord' (1967).

In October 1975 Gauthier returned to sing and perform to a full house in the Outremont cinema in Montreal. After a show at Le Patriote, Johanne Mercier wrote that he still possessed 'the facility, the poetry that consists in singing of his attachments, his wife, his childhood, his land, his life' (Montréal-Matin, 21 Apr 1976). Except for the tour ' Trois fois chantera' with Claude Léveilée and Pierre Létourneau (1985), appearances at the Festival de St-Malo (1989) and the CD Planète coeur (1991, Transit TRCD-9101), Gauthier has since devoted himself mainly to cinema: Gilles Carles' La Guêpe, François Labonté's Henri, Louise Carré's Qui a tiré sur nos histoires d'amour, Yves Dion's Les Enfants de la rue, Michel Brault's L'Emprise and Robert Ménard's L'Homme de rêve.

Gauthier has composed more than 100 songs, many of them performed by Renée Claude, Louise Forestier, Pauline Julien, Pierre Lalonde, Monique Leyrac, and Michelle Richard. Among his greatest hits, other than those already mentioned, have been 'Marie-Noël,' 'Sur la rue du Palais,' 'T'es pas une autre,' 'Parlez-moi de vous,' and 'La Tête en fleurs'. Les Grands Succès de Claude Gauthier was issued by Gamma (G2 1006).

Author Hélène Plouffe

Bibliography

'Claude Gauthier,' CanComp, 41, Jun 1969

'In this article, couched in the form of a conversation- plus-narration, Jacques Larue-Langlois writes about Claude Gauthier,' ibid, 48, Mar 1970

Vincent, Pierre. 'A Quebec star's newly changing life-style,' ibid, 70, May 1972

Jasmin, Hélène. 'A Quebec singer makes a comeback,' ibid, 110, Apr 1976

Chansonniers du Québec