Christine Charbonneau

Christine Charbonneau
Charbonneau in 2008
Background information
Birth name	Christine Charbonneau
Born	(1943-10-18) October 18, 1943 Montreal, Quebec
Genres	Pop, French songs
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, composer, poet, author
Instruments	Guitar, piano, vocals
Years active	1963–2005
Labels	Mérite, Polydor (labeled as Polydor/Pléiade), Gamma, Triomphe, Select

Christine Charbonneau is a Canadian singer and songwriter, born in Montreal, Quebec in 1943.

Most popular songs

Du fil des aiguilles et du coton recorded by France Castel in 1972 ^[1] and sang by Céline Dion in 1973,^[2] on her first public appearance at the age of five, at the wedding of her brother Michel.^[3] Tout va trop vite ^[4] recorded by Patsy Gallant in 1972.^[5] Les femmes (Qu'y a-t-il dans le coeur des femmes) recorded by Patsy Gallant in 1974 and covered by Sheila in France in 1976.^[6] Donne l'amour recorded by Ginette Reno in 1974.^[7] Censuré recorded by Christine Charboneau in 1975.^[8] Cécile Tremblay-Matte, musicologist, recognizes Christine Charbonneau in her book La chanson écrite au féminin, as the French Canadian female songwriter who had the most songs recorded by different artists in Québec during the period of 1960 to 1980.^[9][10]

Early career

Charbonneau wrote her first song at the age of twelve.^[11] She began singing professionally at La Butte à Mathieu in Val-David, Québec in 1959.^[12] She was acompaining herself with a guitar like her mentor Felix Leclerc^[13] and was considered as one of the Icons of Québec Songs.^[14] Charbonneau was referred to as a chansonnier.^[15] She toured for several years in Québec Coffee Houses called as "Les Boites à chansons" which were proliferating at the time.

Charbonneau started giving songs to different singers, namely Ginette Ravel, one of the major artist of this epoch.^[16] She recorded Charbonneau's song L'amour, on her album «L'amour c'est comme un jour» released in 1963 on RCA Victor Records.^[17] Her song Je te chercherai was recorded by Renée Claude on (Renée Claude Volume 2), Select Records.^[18] Charbonneau made her first album with Sélect Records in 1963 : The title was "Les insolences d'une jeune femme".^[19]

On 24 June 1965, Charbonneau was invited to participate at the Saint-John-Baptiste Celebration Day,^[20] (today the National Holiday) in Québec.^[21] That year it was hold exceptionally at Jarry Park in North of Montréal. Surrounded by other artists, Charbonneau performed in front of more than forty thousand people.^[22]

Around 1967, as the "Boites à chansons" were facing declin,^[23] Charbonneau continued her career at CBC Radio and CBC Television. She was invited several times on the Coast to Coast CBC Television series Chansons (TV series) produced by Anton Van de Water, where she was singing in company of many other artists including Joni Mitchell^[24] Jacques Blanchet, Margo McKinnon,^[25] Pauline Julien and Gordon Lightfoot, the Travelers ^[26] In 1968, she made a third album titled Christine with Gamma Records,^[27] and François Dompierre was her Orchestra Director. Later he composed a few songs for her.^[28]

In 1968, Charbonneau had her first Télévision Summer Series at CBC SRC and co-hosted with Jacques Blanchet the musical show : "Tête heureuse". In 1969, she co-hosted with Blanchet a chansons radio show at CBC Radio : "Tour à tour".^[29] In August 1969, Charbonneau represented Canada at the Spa Festival in Belgium^[30] and lost the contest.

Composing for others

The 1970s are the most intensive years of her songwriter career, as it was marked by the recording of many of her songs with different artists. Du fil des aiguilles et du coton, Je le vois dans ma soupe, Ça m'fait du bien recorded by France Castel^[31] on Profil Records and Trans-World Records, reached the Top Twenty Charts in Quebec^[32] and her 1973, 1974, 1975 albums are mostly Charbonneau's songs. Patsy Gallant^[33] Tout va trop vite, Thank you come again (in French), Un jour comme les autres, Le lit qui craque, made the charts and gave a start to Gallant French career in Quebec.^[34][35] In 1974 Charbonneau gave to Patsy Gallant her original song Les femmes (Qu'y a-t-il dans le cœur des femmes) which was recorded on her 1974 album «Toi l'enfant» released with Columbia Records. Les femmes was covered by the popular French singer Sheila who released the single Les femmes ^[36] in 1976 with Carrere Records and reached a first place on the French Top Twenty Charts.^[37] It could be found also on the album L'amour qui brûle en moi.

In 1974, Charbonneau wrote a first song for Ginette Reno, Donne l'amour and was recorded on her album «Aimons-nous» ^[38] Also in 1979, Reno recorded Oublie-moi on her album «Je ne suis qu'une chanson», produced by Melon-Miel Records^[39] and was sold in a few months to 350,000 albums.

Michel Louvain^[40] and Claude Valade were back on Quebec Charts with songs written by Charbonneau. La dame en bleu on Mirabel Records ^[41] was for Louvain one of the greatest hits of his career.^[42]Viens t'étendre aux creux de mes bras,^[43] Aide-moi à passer la nuit,^[44] J'ai dit non, Quand tes yeux, C'est parce que je t'aime , Est-ce si facile , Le chemin de tes rêves - all songs who have been Top Tens on the Quebec Charts and were amongs Claude Valade hits ^[45][46] · ^[47] that became standards on Quebec Radio Airplay. Charbonneau biggest hit as a singer was her disco song of 1975, Censuré.

En 2008, the song Les femmes sang by Sheila was one of the chosen song for the musical background of the film Stella, by Sylvie Verheyder ^[48]

References