More of this Feature • Michel Rivard: Part One • Michel Rivard: Part Two • Michel Rivard: Part Three • Michel Rivard: Part Four • Michel Rivard: Part Five     Related Resources • Quebec    Elsewhere on the Web • Michel Rivard (Disques Audiogram; with lyrics, bio, and sound clips) • Biographie Michel Rivard (MusiMax) • Michel Rivard (ADISQ)

Michel Rivard is one of Quebec's most legendary and enduring singer/songwriters. With his poetic lyrical style and elegant acoustic guitar stylings, Rivard has been captivating audiences around his home province and beyond for over thirty years.

Rivard first gained fame for being a part of Beau Dommage, a 1970's supergroup likened to Quebec's answer to The Beatles. He continued to gain both critical and audience acclaim with his extensive solo career, which includes several CDs, many live shows, compositions for theatre, and the hosting of his own variety television program, Studio TV5, which ran for two years on TV5, a cable French network.

Maudit Bonheur (Disques Audiogram; 1999) is Rivard's most recent album, featuring songs that have quickly become classics, such as the beautiful "Pleurer Pour Rien" and "Rue Sanschagrin." Rivard also composed a choral piece of music for the performance "2000 voix chantent le monde," which was sung by a choir of 2000 singers in the year 2000, in addition to hosting his television program and acting in a play at Montreal's celebrated Theatre du Nouveau Monde.

In late November, Rivard and two of his musical best friends - Francis Covan (guitar, violin, accordion, vocals, and other instruments) and Mario Légaré (bass/vocals) -- headed for Western Canada as part of Rivard's En Spectacle Intime tour. He performed many of his best-known songs in small theatres with simple arrangements and lots of interaction with the audience.

I had the priviledge of talking with Michel Rivard when he was in Edmonton, before his performance before approximately 300 people at the Auditorium at the Faculté St. Jean. In this rare English interview, we discussed the projects that Rivard has been involved with over the past few years, how his musical career has developed over the past three decades, and his future plans.

Next page > Michel Rivard: Part Two >

Photos © 2002 Paula E. Kirman