Richard Séguin (born on March 27, 1952 in Pointe-aux-Trembles, Québec) is a Quebecois author, composer and singer.
His music career began in the 1970s with the duo Les Séguin, with his twin sister Marie-Claire. The duo achieved considerable popular success in Québec. Their brilliant folk reprise of Felix Leclerc's Le train du nord enjoyed huge radio play and record sales, along with other titles. He has had a solo career since 1977.
Séguin has received several prizes, including Felix Awards from the Québec music industry association ADISQ.[1] Some of his albums were certified platinum (sales of over 100 000 units) by the Canadian Recording Industry Association.
Séguin's songwriting features a delicately intertwined tapestry of blues, folk and rock music influences, feeding from the works of many musicians, from Québec and abroad, a reflection of the artist's wide-open range of inspiration. Séguin's lyrics abound with powerful, striking metaphors, illustrating how power relationships not only modify social structures, but personal life as well. His sensible approach to human condition has gained him a considerable following in Québec, and has found some echo in the United States, as a few of his songs have been translated and recorded in English by Gary "U.S." Bonds. Séguin is also known, but to a limited extent, in France.
In addition to his lifelong involvement in songwriting, Séguin has also developed considerable skills as a visual artist. His wood engravings borrow altogether from traditional Québec folk art, Native American Art, German Expressionism and Arte Povera. Some of his work may be seen on his website. In his recent work, Seguin has been largely borrowing and incorporating fragments of poems by Gaston Miron. The mixture reveals to be intricate and complex, and strongly and coherently integrated to the visual patterns of Seguin's work, a brilliant remark of how Miron's poetry may not be dissociated from Quebecois' life environment.