Article

Lucien Francoeur

Published Online August 21, 2007

Last Edited December 16, 2013

Lucien Francoeur. Poet, singer-songwriter, radio host, French teacher, b Montreal, 9 Sep 1948; MA (UQTR) 1984. He quit school at 15 to go to New York where he lived in Greenwich Village for several months. Back in Quebec, he began writing poetry when he was about 18.

Francoeur, Lucien

Lucien Francoeur. Poet, singer-songwriter, radio host, French teacher, b Montreal, 9 Sep 1948; MA (UQTR) 1984. He quit school at 15 to go to New York where he lived in Greenwich Village for several months. Back in Quebec, he began writing poetry when he was about 18. In 1969, he went to New Orleans where he completed high school. An unwavering fan of Timothy Leary and Jim Morrison, he then discovered drugs and rock music. Later on, he found himself studying literature at Maisonneuve College in Montreal, and contributing to the literary review, Les Herbes rouges. A meeting with poet and publisher Gaston Miron led to the appearance of his first collection of poems, Minibrixes réactées (Éditions de l'Hexagone, 1972).

Following several trips to Los Angeles and Vancouver, he founded 1974 the rock group Aut'Chose which recorded its first LP, Prends une chance avec moé (CBS FS-90289). In 1975, the group participated in the Chant'Août festival in Quebec City, gave a concert on the main stage during the St-Jean-Baptiste celebrations on Mount Royal, and recorded Une nuit comme une autre (CBS FS-90309), followed by Cauchemar américain (1976, CBS PFS-90379) and Aut'chose (1978, Gamma GS-244). In 1979, Francoeur was invited to launch in Paris an LP featuring his greatest hits, Chaud comme un juke-box (CBS-82029). Following his return to Quebec, he devoted his time to composition. His LP Le Retour de Johnny Frisson (1980, Kébec-Disc KD-997) led to a series of concerts. Francoeur gave his farewell stage performance at l'Imprévu, in Old Montreal, in 1980. An album, Jour et nuit (Pelo 1001) was launched in Montreal and Paris in 1984, followed by Dernière vision (1985, Kébec-Disc KD-628) and Les Gitans reviennent toujours (1987, A & M SP-9139). Francoeur published some 20 collections of poems in Montreal between 1972 and 1988.

During the 1970's, he symbolized the fusion of underground poetry and rock. His uproarious images mixing French and English, Californian and French influences, city pictures and rock mythology, have won an audience well beyond literary circles.