Paul Piché | The Canadian Encyclopedia

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Paul Piché

Paul Piché, singer-songwriter (b at Montréal 5 Sept 1953).

Piché, Paul

Paul Piché, singer-songwriter (b at Montréal 5 Sept 1953). Doing the rounds of the boîtes à chansons with his protest tunes, Paul Piché gained rapid success in 1978 thanks to Heureux d'un printemps and other songs from his first album A qui appartient le beau temps, whose sales exceeded 100 000 copies. One of the rare artists to champion social and political issues in the 1980s, he enjoyed as much success on stage as with recording, appearing at PLACE DES ARTS in 1980 and 1983, and winning the Félix award for rock in 1985. A leading light among artists of his generation, Paul Piché was voted "Personality of the year" for song by the newspaper La Presse in 1990, and "Patriot of the Year" by the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste in 1994. Drawing on traditional folklore as well as contemporary rock, he wrote several songs now considered classics: L'escalier,Avec l'amour, Cochez oui cochez non, J'appelle, Château de sable, Sur ma peau and L'instant.