Marie-Claire Séguin

Séguin, Marie-Claire

Marie-Claire Séguin. Singer-songwriter, b Pointe-aux-Trembles (Montreal) 27 Mar 1952. She started her career with her twin brother Richard Séguin. Her first solo record, Marie-Claire Séguin (1978, CBS PFS-90452), was followed by a tour in Quebec. Her intimate and sensitive lyrics, and her deep voice of great virtuosity, which made the renown of the Séguins, attracted attention. That year she made a CBC TV show with the MSO under the direction of Neil Chotem. After a second LP Marie-Claire Séguin (1979, CBS PFC-80019), she gave numerous performances at the St-Denis Theatre, and in France with Catherine Lara. In 1980, accompanied by only one musician, she gave over 300 performances in small boîtes and cafés in Quebec. During the 350th anniversary of Quebec City in 1984, she premiered, with Jean-Pierre Ferland, Louise Portal, and Nanette Workman, 'Du gramophone au laser,' a show successfully revived in Montreal and all over Quebec before being televised by Radio Québec in 1985. With others, she recorded an homage to Félix Leclerc, Rêves à vendre in 1985, for French and Canadian television.

The range of her vocal abilities, which take her from opera to ballad, by way of blues, have made Séguin a unique personality of the Quebec chanson, a 'diva sauvage', according to the journalist Bruno Dostie. Her third LP Minuit un quart (1986, Kébec-Disc KD-650), won her an invitation to the the first Festival québécois de la chanson in St-Malo. In February 1988 she performed at the Théâtre de la ville in Paris. Her next record, the CD Une femme, une planète (1990, Kébec-Disc KDC-668), was produced with Alain Sauvageau (musical direction and keyboards) and Louis Valois. In 1990, she participated at the Coup de coeur francophone Festival and gave a recital in Outremont, Montreal.