Claude Léveillée Explained

Background:person
Honorific Prefix:S'approcher de la véritécanoe
Claude Léveillée
Birth Name:Joseph Gérard Adolphe Claude Léveillée
Birth Date:16 October 1932
Birth Place:Montréal, Quebec Canada
Death Place:Saint-Benoit-de-Mirabel
Québec, Canada
Genre:Comedy
Years Active:1956–2004

Claude Léveillée (Montréal, 16 October 1932 – 9 June 2011) was a Canadian actor, pianist, and singer-songwriter who composed over 400 songs, numerous instrumental scores, and a number of musicals.

Claude Léveillée co-founded Les Bozos in 1959, the year he met Édith Piaf. He composed several songs for her (including "Les Vieux" pianos, "Ouragan" and "Boulevard du crime"). He also composed for a number of Quebec singers, including Julie Arel ("Merci à toi" in 1976) and Nicole Martin ("Il est en nous l'amour" in 1985, and "Mon père et ma mère" and "On s'aimera" in 1987). He performed in France and the Soviet Union (USSR), as well as in Belgium, Switzerland and Japan. He is also an actor, notably in Line of Demarcation (1966) and in the Scoop series from 1991 to 1994.

Biography

Youth

Joseph Gérard Adolphe Claude Léveillée was born on 16 October 1932 at 7406 Drolet Street in Montreal.[1] His parents were Pierre Léveillée (1901–1992) and Laurette Lalande (1901–1995). Claude was their second child of three, Jean being the eldest and Raymonde the youngest. The Léveillée family introduced their children to music at a very young age. His mother is a musician and pianist, and his father is a tenor singer. His parents influenced Claude's interest in piano. Once, his mother played the piano and his brother the violin, and Claude Léveillée completed the ensemble by playing the accordion and harmonica. He began performing on the accordion in the streets of Montreal.

Education

Claude Léveillée enrolled at the Collège André-Grasset in 1947, then at the Collège de Montréal in 1951. He had some difficulty with the school system, finding it time-consuming. He sometimes entertained himself with his little Comtessa accordion.

In 1954, at the age of 21 and with a Bachelor of Arts degree[2] from the classical course, he enrolled at the Université de Montréal in economics, politics and social sciences. Showing little enthusiasm in class, he discovered an old piano in a room at the university, whose music led him to meet Élizabeth Chouvalidzé.

Early musical career

In October 1955, with his friend Élizabeth, Léveillée appeared on stage at the Université de Montréal in the magazine Bleu et Or, with a number by Gilbert Bécaud and Liberace. He was noticed by Noël Gauvin, director of the TV show Music-hall. The latter approached Léveillée to compose the song Montréal for the singer Andrée D'Amour.

Claude Léveillée produces musical and poetic compositions. Three months later, he began setting his poems to music. In 1955, he created his first song, "Tes Rêves". It was entered in the Chœur Bleu et Or competition at the Université de Montréal. He appears on Music-hall, where he performs some of his songs. At the university's cantina, Élizabeth and Claude audition for extra roles at Société Radio-Canada. They met Claude Caron, who remembered Léveillée's accordion performances. Caron offered him the role of Bozo in Père Ambroise Lafortune's television series La Rivière perdue.

After two years, he dropped out of university and the social sciences. In 1956, he played in "Le Secret de la rivière perdue" on Radio-Canada Television; he also created a character for children, Clo-Clo (sets, script, text and music), on the "Domino" program (1957–59, 1961–62).

He met Paul Buissonneau at the École des beaux-arts de Montréal, where he was in charge of the musical score for the 1956 revival of Orion le tueur at the Centre Saint-André-Apôtre. Buissonneau offers Léveillée the opportunity to open the next play he stages, La Tour Eiffel qui tue, presented from 4 to 9 March 1957 at the Salles du Gesù in Montreal and on 25 May in Edmonton. In 1957, Claude Léveillée created the soundtrack for La Belle Rombière by Guillaume Hanoteau and Jean Clevers. In 1958, he plays the lead role in Marcel Aymé's Les Oiseaux de lune.

In 1959, he co-founded Les Bozos with six other young Quebec chansonniers.[3] That same year, he entered one of his songs ("Les vieux pianos") in the third edition of the Canadian Song Contest. This song, selected as one of the twelve finalists, was recorded shortly afterwards by Micheline Manseau to a honky-tonk piano rhythm ("[...] vous n'êtes plus de notre temps [...]"). This is the first recording of Claude Léveillée.

Stay with Édith Piaf

On 12 June 1959, under the influence of Paul Buissonneau and his wife Françoise, who were encouraging Édith Piaf to go to the little cabaret Chez Bozo, Claude Léveillée met the artist. She invited him to come and compose songs for her in Paris in August 1959. Many years later, Léveillée would collaborate with Piaf in the documentary 67 bis boulevard Lannes, directed by Jean-Claude Labrecque. He returned to Quebec in 1960. Édith Piaf recorded several of the songs he had written for her (including "Boulevard du crime", "Ouragan" and "Le Vieux piano", a version of Les Vieux pianos featuring a third person), then died in 1963.

1960s and 1970s

In 1961, Léveillée was artistic director of the small "boîte à chansons" Le Chat noir in Montreal, where he hired Gilles Vigneault and asked him after his performance if he had any other texts to set to music. Léveillée obtained several of Vigneault's texts (some of them written in his presence) and composed some thirty of them, including "Le bout du monde", "Le chemin de prairie", "Il en est passé", "Avec nos yeux", and "L'hiver", which was sung by Monique Leyrac. In France, Claude Léveillée won the Grand Prix du disque canadien de la radio de CKAC in 1962.

In 1963, he played the musical part in Paul Buissonneau's show Les Éphémères, with Yvon Deschamps and Jean-Louis Millette, among others. Due to disputes, the show was cancelled. Léveillée nevertheless recorded the music he had composed. Later, for Louis-Georges Carrier, director of the Théâtre de la Marjolaine, Léveillée wrote the music for several musicals, including "Doux temps des amours". On 23 April 1963, with Paul Buissonneau, Yvon Deschamps and Jean-Louis Millette, he co-founded the Théâtre de Quat'Sous.

He was the first Quebec singer to perform alone at Place des Arts (in 1964). He won the Grand Prix du Disque in 1966. On 21 May 1967, he performed the song "Le rendez-vous" on the American Ed Sullivan Show, broadcast live from Montreal on the occasion of the World's fair held there at the time.

In 1968, accompanied by André Gagnon, Léveillée performed 26 recitals in the USSR. In the 1960s, he produced The Old Pianos, Frédéric, The Legend of the White Horse, "Le Rendez-vous" (lyrics by Gilles Vigneault), The Scene, Emmène-moi au bout du monde and Soir d'hiver (poem by Émile Nelligan).

In the early 1970s, he produced songs such as "L'étoile d'Amérique", "Cheval de bois", "Si jamais" and "Marie Rose". In 1972, he represented Canada at the Sopot Song Festival in Poland. The same year, he returned on tour to the USSR.

In 1976, he gave a series of concerts at Place des Arts, participated in the "5 grands sur la montagne" show (Une fois cinq) and presented a few concerts with Félix Leclerc on Île d'Orléans (Le temps d'une saison). That same year, he gave Julie Arel the song Merci à toi. In 1978 and 1979, he gave way to instrumental music with Black Sun and Escale 80.

1980s

In 1980, he lost his only child,[4] Pascal, who died at the age of 20.[5] Léveillée embarked on an intimate tour in 1980, beginning at the Théâtre de Quat'Sous in the fall. In 1982, he released a new album of songs featuring "Le coyote", "La grande vie" and "Les fils de la liberté". He toured Switzerland from 1981 to 1984. Accompanied by Claude Gauthier and Pierre Létourneau, Léveillée took part in the Trois fois chantera tour in Quebec in 1984.

In 1985, he presented the commemorative show Tu t'rappelles Frédéric with his friend André Gagnon. In the same year, he took part in the Fondation Québec-Afrique, singing in the collective project "Les Yeux de la faim". He also composed the song "Il est en nous l'amour" for Nicole Martin, with a text by Pierre Létourneau. The song was nominated at the ADISQ gala the following year. In August 1986, he married Hélène LeTendre LeBlond in Lutry, Switzerland. She is a journalist, columnist and Quebec TV host. They remained married until Claude's death in 2011. That same year, in 1986, he began a series of instrumental concerts entitled Un homme, un piano. In 1987, he shared the stage with Renée Claude for a few concerts under the title Partenaires dans le crime, then wrote the songs "On s'aimera" and "Mon père et ma mère" for which Nicole Martin joined as backing vocalist. In 1988, McDonald's restaurants used his song, Frédéric, for the Quebec adaptation of the advertising campaign around the character Mac Tonight, renamed Pierrot McDo.[6] In 1989, he released the album Enfin revivre.

1990s to 2000s

In the early 1990s, Léveillée landed the role of businessman and press magnate Émile Rousseau in the TV series Scoop, for which he also composed the musical score. In 1994, he recorded the album Mes années 60. He went on to produce three albums: Rêves inachevés (1998), Rêves inachevés vol 2 (1999) and Non stop le rebel (2000). His latest songs are Mes années 80 (1996) and Cœur sans pays (2008). On stage, he continued to perform at the Place des Arts in 1994, 1997 and 2003. He also appeared briefly in George Mihalka's L'Homme idéal and Michel Poulette's La Conciergerie. He made a return to television in 2002, playing a mentally ill former teacher in the TV series Tabou.

On 27 April 2004, on stage at the age of 71, he suffered his first stroke, followed by a second on 20 October, leaving him severely disabled.[7] After a long stay in the hospital and some rehabilitation, he was taken home at his own request and was able to stay there.

In 2008, the second and final volume of his biography was published; the following year, the Bibliothèque et Archives nationaux du Québec (BAnQ) acquired the Claude Léveillée archive.[8] The fund is still kept there.[9]

Death

On 5 May 2011, the Mouvement national des Québécoises et Québécois presented Guy Latraverse and the artisans of the 1 fois 5 show with the "Artisan de la Fête nationale du Québec 2011" award to mark the 35th anniversary of the concert. Claude was unable to attend the press conference due to his health. His last public appearance before his death was his video testimonial.

On 4 June 2011, Claude Léveillée suffered a third stroke at home and lost his speech. On 9 June 2011, he died of a cerebral hemorrhage[10] at the age of 78.[11]

His funeral took place on 18 June 2011 at Montreal's Notre-Dame Basilica (with a capacity of 1,500 people). The ceremony, conducted by Father Raymond Gravel, was broadcast live on RDI, with André Gagnon at the piano. On this day, the flag at the Parliament Building in Quebec is lowered to half-mast (as was the case for Alys Robi shortly before). The day before, the public was invited to march near the coffin at Place des Arts.[12] Claude Léveillée was then taken to Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery, where he was laid to rest besides his parents and son.

Discography

Claude Léveillée's musical and poetic work is distinguished by its lyricism.

Albums

Simple

Concerts

Compilations

Collaborations and performances as guest artist

Tributes

Filmography

As an actor

Movie theater

Television

As composer

Movie theater

Television

Concerts

DVD

As an actor

As a theater composer

As composer of revues or musicals

As a composer of tales

Bibliography

Awards and recognition

Bibliography

Marriages: Micheline Guernon (mother of her son Pascal); Monica Miller; Francine Massé; Hélène LeTendre LeBlond 1986–2011.

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Pieds nus dans l'enfance – Claude Léveillée . 6 August 1976 . Video . fr . Barefoot in childhood – Claude Léveillée . Performed by Félix Leclerc, posted by Miguel Tremblay . 2024-05-07 . YouTube.
  2. Web site: Benoît L'Herbier, Denise Ménard, Suzanne Thomas . 2011 . Léveillée, Claude . 11 June 2011 . The Canadian Encyclopedia . Encyclopédie de la musique au Canada (dans l'Encyclopédie canadienne).
  3. Web site: 2011 . Claude Léveillée (biographie, discographie) . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20240106182635/http://www.qim.com/artistes/biographie.asp?artistid=120 . 6 January 2024 . 9 June 2011 . qim.com . Québec Info Musique . fr.
  4. Web site: Entrevue que Claude Léveillée accorde en exclusivité à Claude Saucier, le 3 décembre 2008 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20081112050802/http://www.radio-canada.ca/audio-video/pop.shtml#urlMedia%3Dhttp://www.radio-canada.ca/Medianet/2011/ExclusifWebAudio/ZoneMusiqueAudio201106091200_m.asx . 12 November 2008 . 13 June 2011 . La Zona Audio . Société Radio-Canada (archives sonores, 1 h 21 min).
  5. Web site: Guilbert . Manon . 29 November 2008 . S'approcher de la vérité . usurped . https://archive.today/20130628045653/http://fr.canoe.ca/divertissement/livres/nouvelles/2008/11/28/7571291-jdm.html . 28 June 2013 . canoe.ca . . fr.
  6. Web site: 2 June 2022 . Pub Québec – McDonald's (Pierrot McDo #2) . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240127063451/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8Y8mTEl4UM . 27 January 2024 . 2023-01-05 . Video . YouTube.
  7. 88 notes pour piano solo, (in French) Jean-Pierre Thiollet. Neva Éditions, 2015, pp. 154–155. .
  8. Web site: 25 May 2009 . Communiqué de presse : BAnQ fait l'acquisition des fonds d'archives de Claude Léveillée et d'Yvon Deschamps . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160303222057/http://www.banq.qc.ca/a_propos_banq/salle_de_presse/communiques_de_presse/2009/com_2009_05_25.html . 3 March 2016 . 18 June 2011 . www.banq.qc.ca . . fr . Press release.
  9. Web site: 2006 . Description . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160303233731/http://pistard.banq.qc.ca/unite_chercheurs/description_fonds?p_anqsid=201307031607192227&p_centre=06M&p_classe=P&p_fonds=813&p_numunide=951198 . 3 March 2016 . Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec . BAnQ Old Montreal . Biographical note/Administrative history . fr.
  10. Web site: 17 June 2011 . Léveillée, Claude . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140903063220/http://necrologie.cyberpresse.ca/resultatrecherche.php?nodef=2613537 . 3 September 2014 . 17 June 2011 . necrologie.cyberpresse.ca.
  11. News: Laurence . Jean-Christophe . 9–10 June 2011 . Frédéric est en deuil . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240127063443/https://www.lapresse.ca/arts/musique/201106/09/01-4407558-frederic-est-en-deuil.php . 27 January 2024 . 11 June 2011 . La Presse . . fr.
  12. News: 13 June 2011 . Les obsèques de Claude Léveillée auront lieu samedi . The funeral of Claude Léveillée will take place on Saturday at the Notre-Dame basilica in Montreal. . 13 June 2011 . La Presse . La Presse Canadienne . fr.
  13. Web site: Claude Léveillée (1932–2011) Auteur, compositeur, interprète . www.bilan.usherb.ca . . 2011 . 20 June 2011.
  14. Web site: en . Place des Arts : le Studio-Théâtre devient la Salle Claude Léveillée . huffingtonpost.ca . 21 October 2013 . 2023-01-05 .
  15. Web site: Florence Meney et Richard Raymond . Biographie : Claude Léveillée 1932–2011 . 10 June 2011 . 16 June 2011.
  16. Web site: Claude Léveillée : Officier . www.gg.ca . . 1996 . 9 June 2011.
  17. Web site: Claude Léveillée : Chevalier . . 1998 . 9 June 2011.
  18. Web site: Claude Léveillée . . 2005 . 10 June 2011.