Quebec singer Jean-Pierre Ferland dies at the age of 89

Quebec singer-songwriter Jean-Pierre Ferland has died at the age of 89, leaving behind a huge musical legacy.

Born and raised in the Plateau Mont-Royal neighborhood of Montreal, Ferland has written over 450 songs and released around 30 albums.

His career began in the announcer department of Radio-Canada, where he worked as a program planner in the late 1950s. In his spare time, he wrote poetry and sang.

In 1961, Ferland won his first singing competition at the Custom-made songs TV show. One year later his song Leaves from Gui won the main prize at the International Chanson Gala in Brussels.

Back then, Montreal songwriters had a hard time getting their voices heard.

In 1959, Ferland and some colleagues opened a club called Chez Bozo on Crescent Street, where French and Quebec singers had their big break.

In the early 1960s, like many singer-songwriters in Quebec, he moved to Paris, where he stayed for five years and wrote several hits.

In 1968 he wrote I’m coming back to usfor which he was awarded the Prix de l’Académie Charles-Cros.

Both the song and its author were inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2007, along with her face, The Little King, A little more upper body, a little more loinand his famous duet with Ginette Reno This is my love, this is my master.

I’m coming back to us brought Ferland back to Quebec, where he wrote his masterpiece, YellowFrench singer Charlotte Gainsbourg covered one of the album’s songs in 2009.

Claude Léveillée, Jacques Blanchet, Clémence DesRochers, Hervé Brousseau and Jean-Pierre Ferland on October 16, 1961. (Henri Paul/Radio-Canada)

In 2018 Yellow received the Polaris Heritage Award for artistic achievement.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described Ferland as a “giant” of Francophone music in an article on X.

“He wrote and sang songs that will forever be part of Quebec culture,” Trudeau wrote. “He will be greatly missed.”

Quebec Premier François Legault described Ferland as a “great builder of Quebec-French songs” and added that he had heard Yellow on a continuous loop. Legault said on Sunday that the government would hold a state funeral for Ferland if the singer’s family agreed.

In the 1980s, Ferland returned to his roots in broadcasting and Sun station via Télé-Québec and The bus of show business on Radio-Canada, but continued to release albums.

The artist was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1996 and a Knight of the National Order of Quebec in 2003.

In 2006, he suffered a mild stroke while rehearsing for one final show at the Bell Centre. Nevertheless, Ferland finished his tour a few months later, the first of many farewells he would give to his audience.

In the following years he released several more albums and in 2013 he became a coach for the French edition of The Voice.

In 2015 he celebrated his 80th birthday with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra.