Monique Leyrac | |
Birth Date: | 1928 2, df=yes |
Birth Place: | Montreal, Quebec |
Birth Name: | Monique Tremblay |
Death Place: | Cowansville, Quebec |
Known For: | "Mon Pays" |
Occupation: | Singer, actress |
Nationality: | Canadian |
Awards: | Order of Canada National Order of Quebec Governor General's Performing Arts Award |
Monique Leyrac, (26 February 1928 – 15 December 2019) was a Canadian singer and actress [1] who popularized many songs by French-Canadian composers.[2]
Leyrac was born Monique Tremblay in Montreal, Quebec.[3] She helped raise her siblings while her mother worked as a milliner, while educating herself by reading poetry and fiction. She studied drama with Madame Maubourg.[4]
Leyrac began her acting career on the radio in 1943, using her knowledge of music and drama.[3] In 1965 she won the grand prize at the Sopot International Song Festival in Poland for her rendition of Gilles Vigneault's "Mon Pays".[5] That year she also won first prize at the Festival de la Chanson at Ostende, Belgium. In 1967 she sang at Expo 67.[6]
Leyrac was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1967 and was the subject of an hour-long documentary on CBC television in 1972.[3] She received the 1979 Prix de musique Calixa-Lavallée. She recorded ten albums of music, and in the 1980s she began to write and stage one-woman shows in which she sang and acted.[7]
In 1997, Leyrac received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award, Canada's highest honour in the performing arts.[8] In 1998, she was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec.[9]
In 2007 a boxed set, Leyrac/La diva des années 60, was released, containing three albums of her performed songs, many by Quebec composers, as well as a DVD with a short documentary of her life and career.[10] In 2013 Leyrac was presented with the Prix Denise-Pelletier for her outstanding career in the performing arts.[11] [12]
In 2019 a biography of Leyrac's life, written by François Dompierre, was released.[13]
Leyrac had been married for twenty-five years to actor-director Jean Dalmain, from 1952 to 1977.[14] Leyrac died on 15 December 2019 in Cowansville, Quebec at the age of 91.[15]