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Diane Dufresne: first francophone singer to be

inducted into Canadian Music Hall of Fame

Montreal, March 21, 2023 – On March 13 at the 2023 JUNO Awards, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) announced the return of the prestigious Canadian Music Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony presented by Music Canada, which had been put on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic. During a live, in-person ceremony on May 18, 2023 at Studio Bell, home to the National Music Centre (NMC) in Calgary, Alberta, the legendary chanteuse Diane Dufresne, veteran jazz pianist Oliver Jones, country music superstar Terri Clark and rock icons Trooper will be honoured for their outstanding contributions to Canada’s music history.

Dufresne, whose professional career spans more than six decades, is the first Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductee to perform entirely in French. Born and raised in Montreal, she headed for Paris in the early 60s, where she studied voice and drama at the young age of 18. Back in Canada, the singer, composer, painter and performing artist continued to break through creative boundaries, from performing in cabarets to singing for ad jingles and film scores.

A multifaceted career

Known for her eccentric style and mesmerizing stage presence, she rose to fame as a singer in the 70s following her first album Tiens toé ben, j’arrive! Nor has she limited herself to singing: over the course of her long career, she has also explored theatre—including starring in the musicals Starmania and Émilie Jolie—and headlined numerous symphonic concerts in Quebec, Europe and Japan, the most recent of which were in 2018 in Quebec and at the Salle Pleyel in Paris. She released 14 studio albums and five live recordings between 1972 and 2018, scoring a major hit with her single J’ai rencontré l’homme de ma vie, which sold over 200,000 copies in Quebec and France when it first came out in 1972.

Dufresne is also one of the first French-speaking performers to sing the “Quebec accent,” thanks to a fruitful collaboration with the well-known lyricist Luc Plamondon, a fellow Music Hall of Fame inductee. She’s hailed for her extravagant costumes, meticulous stagings and interactive performances, such as her celebrated Magie rose show at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium in 1984, where the entire audience of 57,000 wore pink.

Lauded for her talent, Dufresne has toured the world and has a loyal fanbase in Canada and France. Her tremendous list of achievements includes the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award, the Knight of the Ordre national du Québec, the Prix Denise-Pelletier and two French distinctions, the Legion of Honour and the Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres. The Centre d’art Diane-Dufresne in Repentigny, Quebec was named after her.

About the Canadian Music Hall of Fame

The Canadian Music Hall of Fame was established by CARAS in 1978 to acknowledge artists who have had a remarkable impact on Canadian music, both nationally and internationally. Dufresne, Dr. Jones, Clark and Trooper will join the ranks of Canada’s most esteemed talent—a roster that already features the likes of Alanis Morissette, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Barenaked Ladies, Deborah Cox, Jann Arden, Joni Mitchell, k.d. lang, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Oscar Peterson, RUSH, The Guess Who, The Tragically Hip, Sarah McLachlan and Shania Twain.

Diane Dufresne on tour

In a few months, Dufresne will take to the road with Sur rendez-vous: an intimate evening of music, exchanges with the audience and storytelling that mingles past and present.

Tour dates (all shows at 8 p.m.)

• Saturday, July 15 and Sunday, July 16: Salle Odyssée, Gatineau

• Saturday, September 2: Théâtre Hector-Charland, L’Assomption

• Friday, September 8: Centre des arts Juliette-Lassonde, Saint-Hyacinthe

• Saturday, September 9: Le Carré 150, Victoriaville

• Saturday, September 16: Salle André-Mathieu, Laval

• Sunday, September 17: Étoile Banque Nationale, Brossard

• Friday, September 22: Théâtre du Vieux-Terrebonne

• Wednesday, October 4: Le Zénith, Saint-Eustache

• Saturday, October 7: Salle J.-Antonio-Thomson, Trois-Rivières

• Saturday, October 21: Centre culturel Desjardins, Joliette

• Friday, October 27: La Maison des arts Desjardins, Drummondville

Information and tickets: https://www.dianedufresne.com/

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Source: GSI Musique

Media relations:

Marie-Noël Phaneuf, annexe | marienoel@annexe.media | 514 553-2570