Quebec singer and songwriter Jean-Pierre Ferland dies of natural causes at 89

Jean-Pierre Ferland, the singer-songwriter who grew to become a fixture of Quebec’s cultural panorama over a profession that spanned greater than six many years, died Saturday on the age of 89.

The company representing Ferland confirmed the singer, who’s signature track “une likelihood qu’on s’a” is considered a traditional of Quebec music, died of pure causes after being hospitalized earlier this yr.

Born in Montreal on June 24, 1934, Ferland was a prolific artist who produced some 30 albums, together with the culturally vital “Jaune,” which bought some 60,000 copies in a yr after its launch in 1970.

He was named an officer of the Order of Canada and a knight of the Nationwide Order of Quebec, and was inducted into Canada’s Songwriters Corridor of Fame in 2007.

Ferland held a live performance at Montreal’s Bell Centre in 2007 to formally mark his retirement after a greater than four-decade-long profession, however continued to carry out and file up till 2021.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, writing on X, described Ferland as a “large” of francophone music.

“He wrote and sang songs that will probably be part of Quebec tradition ceaselessly,” Trudeau wrote. “He will probably be dearly missed.”

Quebec Premier François Legault described Ferland as a “nice builder of Quebec-French track,” including that he’d listened to “Jaune” on repeat.

Canadian singer Roch Voisine paid tribute to an artist he described as “incomparable.”

“His album ‘Jaune’ modified all the pieces,” Voisine mentioned. “And all of the songs that adopted. Relaxation in peace, Mr. Ferland.”

Whereas he initially labored as an accountant, Ferland grew to become a fixture on the province’s cultural scene just a few years after he recorded his first songs in 1958.

He began making a reputation for himself in each Quebec and internationally within the Nineteen Sixties earlier than the discharge of “Jaune” in 1970.

Ferland took his first steps into tv and flicks within the Nineteen Seventies, and would grow to be an actor, scriptwriter and host for a number of productions.

Whereas a 2006 stroke prompted his official retirement, he continued to carry out and file, it didn’t in the end halt his output. Notable performances included at a 2008 live performance on Quebec Metropolis’s Plains of Abraham to have fun town’s four-hundredth anniversary with fellow Quebec stars together with Céline Dion and Ginette Reno. He additionally launched a lot of new albums, together with “Bijoux de famille” in 2009 and the reside album “Les Noces d’or de jaune” in 2011.

“I left this occupation, I finished, I did a farewell present. But it surely didn’t final lengthy,” he advised Radio-Canada in 2021.

“I used to be ashamed, however I got here again, and as rapidly as attainable. It’s probably the most stunning job on this planet.”

Ferland is survived by his accomplice and his two kids, in addition to 4 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

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