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Date of birth: Place of birth:
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Photo: Daniel Lessard, 1985 Investiture ceremony of the Ordre national du Québec
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Félix Leclerc was the
sixth of eleven children. He had a happy childhood.
From his mother he learned the art of living and
acquired his love of music. With his father he
discovered the world of loggers and rivermen.
Félix Leclerc was a student at the Juniorat
du Sacré-Coeur in Ottawa and then at the
University of Ottawa where he studied literature
and rhetoric. For lack of funds, he had to
interrupt his education during the Great
Depression. He became a radio announcer in Quebec
City in 1934 and in Trois-Rivières in 1938.
From 1939 to 1945, he was an actor on Radio-Canada
(Vie de famille, Un homme et son
péché). A member of the Compagnons de
Saint-Laurent, he wrote a series of radio
broadcasts entitled Je me souviens. Most of the
texts were collected in 1943 and 1944 in a trilogy
entitled Adagio, Allegro and Andante. In 1939 he
interpreted his first song, Notre sentier, on
Radio-Canada. In 1948, he founded a theatrical
company that gave public performances across
Quebec.
On December 28, 1950, he made
his debut as a singer at the Théatre de
l'ABC in Paris; he was an overnight success. In
1951, 1958 and 1973, he was awarded the Grand prix
du disque of the Académie Charles-Cros
(France's highest award for a singer). A number of
years later, he settled in Vaudreuil, and then on
the Ile d'Orléans, where he continued to
write and to publish. His most successful songs
include Moi, mes souliers; Bozo and Le train du
Nord. He was a poet, a storyteller, an author and a
singer-songwriter. Félix Leclerc is
considered the father of the Quebec chanson. He was
a trail blazer for French-language Canadian songs.
He received a number of honours: the Calixa
Lavallée award of the Société
Saint-Jean-Baptiste of Montreal, and the Bene
Merenti de Patria medal in 1975. In 1976, he was
given the Award of Merit of the Canadian Conference
of the Arts. In 1977, for his lifetime achievements
in the theatre, the Quebec government awarded him
the Denise Pelletier prize. In 1979, ADISQ named
its trophy after his first name, Félix. He
was inducted into the Order of Canada (1971). He
was made a Grand Officer of the Ordre national du
Québec (1985) and a Chevalier of the French
Légion d'honneur (1986).
On August 18, 1988,
Félix Leclerc died on the Île
d'Orléans. Quebec was in mourning.
"Félix gave Quebec its own identity and an
international presence that none of us has since
equalled in such a brilliant and subtle way..."
(Carol Néron, in the Quotidien de
Chicoutimi).
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