Monique Leyrac

Canadian singer and actress born February 26, 1928 in Montréal and died December 15, 2019 in Cowansville, Québec. Fourth of seven children, she left school early to support her family by working in a factory. She saved some money to take personal drama lessons. Her career started when she was chosen for the main character of a radio drama "Le chant de Bernadette" on CKAC in 1943 – she was only 15. By the end of the 1940s she started singing at "Au Faisan Doré" with Charles Aznavour, Pierre Roche and Jacques Normand. She recorded ten singles from 1949 to 1951. In the 1950s she was engaged to Jean Dalmain, a French actor and focused her energy on theater, her newly born child and correspondence courses. Her singing career really took off when she recorded her first LP in 1963 – "Monique Leyrac chante Léveillée et Vigneault". In 1965 she won the Prize for Masterpiece at the Sopot International Song Festival for "Mon pays" written by Gilles Vigneault. At the same festival she also won first prize for the Polish song "Powracająca melodyjka" (The Found Again Melody). From the mid-1970s she decided to self-produce concept performances that combined her acting and singing talents: "Monique Leyrac chante Nelligan", "Monique Leyrac chante Félix Leclerc", "Divine Sarah", "Spectacle 1900", "Les paradis artificiels" and "Paris-Berlin". She appeared in four movies ("Les lumières de ma ville", Paul Almond's "Act of the Heart" and two National Filmboard of Canada documentaries about Félix Leclerc) and many TV series and shows (including "Anne-Marie", "Plein Soleil", "Les enquêtes Jobidon", "Bonsoir chéri", "Pleins feux", BBC's "Rolf Harris Show", "The Perry Como Show", "The Wayne and Shuster Hour", "The Ed Sullivan Show", "Zoom", "Les dames de cœur"). Prizes and Awards: 1967 Appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada 1979 Prix de musique Calixa-Lavallée 1997 Governor General’s Performing Arts Award Lifetime Artistic Achievement (Popular Music) 1998 Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Québec 2006 Prix Hommage de la chanson Quebecor 2013 Prix du Québec, Prix Denise-Pelletier (Arts de la scène)