Claude Léveillée

Claude Léveillée (16 October 1932 – 9 June 2011) was a Canadian actor, pianist, and singer-songwriter who composed more than 400 songs, instrumental pieces, and musicals.

In 1959, Léveillée co-founded Les Bozos, an informal collective of Quebec chansonniers. He notably collaborated with Édith Piaf, writing several songs for her, including "Les Vieux Pianos," "Ouragan," and "Boulevard du Crime." He also composed for a number of Quebec artists, including Julie Arel—"Merci à toi" (1976)—and Nicole Martin, with songs such as "Il est en nous l'amour" (1985), "Mon père et ma mère," and "On s’aimera" (both 1987). Léveillée performed widely, with appearances in France, the Soviet Union, Belgium, Switzerland, and Japan. His acting credits include roles in the film Line of Demarcation (1966) and the television series Scoop (1991–1994).

Biography Youth Joseph Gérard Adolphe Claude Léveillée was born on 16 October 1932 in Montreal. His parents were Pierre Léveillée (1901–1992) and Laurette Lalande (1901–1995).

Léveillée's mother was a pianist and his father was a tenor. In addition to the piano, Claude also played the accordion and harmonica. He began performing with the accordion on the streets of Montreal.

Education Claude Léveillée enrolled at the Collège André-Grasset in 1947, then at the Collège de Montréal in 1951. During school, he sometimes played a Contessa accordion.

In 1954, at 21 and with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the classical course, he enrolled at the Université de Montréal in economics, politics, and social sciences. Here he discovered an old piano at the university, whose music led him to meet the actress Élizabeth Chouvalidzé.

Early musical career

In October 1955, Léveillée and Élizabeth Chouvalidzé appeared on stage at the Université de Montréal in the magazine Bleu et Or, 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 [...]") and was Léveillée's first recording. 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

In 1963, he played the musical role in Paul Buissonneau's show Les Éphémères, with Yvon Deschamps and Jean-Louis Millette, among others. The show was cancelled, but Léveillée still recorded the music he had composed for it. 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.

Léveillée was the first Quebec singer to perform alone at Place des Arts (in 1964). Pascal, who died at the age of 20. Léveillée embarked on a 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 was a journalist, columnist, and Quebec TV host. They remained married until Claude's death in 2011.

In 1986, Léveillée began a series of instrumental concerts titled 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 a 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. In 1989, he released the album Enfin revivre.

1990's to 2000's In the early 1990's, 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 Nonstop le rebel (2000).

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 returned 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. After a stay in the hospital and some rehabilitation, he was taken home at his request and remained 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. The fund is still kept there.

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 did not attend the press conference due to his poor health, his last public appearance before his death was through 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 at the age of 78.

His funeral was 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 the day of his funeral, the flag at the Parliament Building in Quebec was lowered to half-mast. The day before, the public was invited to march near the coffin at Place des Arts. Claude Léveillée was then taken to Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery, ) (Polydor, 2424.196) 1980 I Hear You Singing. (With Gilles Vigneault, Monique Leyrac, Fabienne Thibeault, Michel Rivard, Pauline Julien and Nicole Croisille / Recorded at Place-des-Nations on 5 September 1980) (Kébec-Disc, KD-507/508) 1996 The memory of song boxes. Frederick. (Other titles by various performers. Recorded in May 1996 at the Spectrum in Montreal) (DisQuébec, QUÉC-2-1108) 1998 Gagala. Imagination. (Other titles by various performers) (Firma, FM 2 0015) 2000 Isabelle Boulay – Love scenes. Frédéric (duet with Isabelle Boulay) (Sidéral, SIDCD-2702) 2003 Marie-Denise Pelletier – The words of Eddy Marnay. The first love in the world (duet with Marie-Denise Pelletier) (Disques Victoire, VIC2-1843).

Tributes 1975 Claude Léveillée – Ten successes for you. (Instrumental versions, orchestrations by Gérard Manset) (1975, Barclay, 80206) 2005 Time for a song, time to say I love you. (Tribute disc to Claude Léveillée) (Aube, AUBECCD0306). Since 2013, the Studio-Théâtre de la Place des Arts in Montreal has officially become Salle Claude-Léveillée.

Filmography As an actor Films 1966 The Line of Demarcation, a film by Claude Chabrol — Captain Duncan Presgrave, the Englishman 1989 Jesus of Montreal, a film by Denys Arcand — A professor of theology 1990 67 bis boulevard Lannes, a documentary by Jean-Claude Labrecque — Himself (remembrance of 1959, in Paris, at Piaf's) 1994 Murder in Music, a film by Gabriel Pelletier — Alex Fugères 1996 The Ideal Man, by George Mihalka — Colleague of Pierre 1997 The Caretaker's Lodge (La Conciergerie), by Michel Poulette — The publisher 2004 So the Moon Rises (La lune viendra d'elle-même), a film by Marie-Jan Seille and Monsieur Langlois

Television 1956 The Lost River, by Ambroise Lafortune (SRC) — Bozo 1957 The Magic Lantern (SRC) 1957–1959 and 1961–1962 Domino (SRC) — Tintinet, renamed Clo-Clo the clown; co-writer, scriptwriter, set designer and songwriter of hundreds of children's songs 1958 The Lost River : Children of the Street, drama by Réginald Boisert (SRC) — directed by Claude Caron 1960–1962 La Côte de sable, television novel by Marcel Dubé (SRC) — directed by Louis-Georges Carrier 1962 Beyond the Ages, drama by Jean-Robert Rémillard (SRC) — directed by Jean Faucher 1962 Absolvo te, television novel by Jean-Robert Rémillard (SRC) — directed by Jean-Robert Rémillard 1963 Inquisition, drama by Diego Fabbri (SRC) — directed by Louis-Georges Carrier 1982 In low voice, drama by Gilles Archambault (SRC) — directed by James Dormeyer 1983 The June Wedding (SRC) 1983–1985 The Promised Life, television novel by Marcel Dubé (SRC) 1991–1995 Scoop (SRC), series by Fabienne Larouche and Réjean Tremblay (role : Émile Rousseau, a press magnate) 1995 The Coffin affair (The Great Trials series) — directed by Jean-Claude Labrecque 2002–2003 Tabou (TVA) — television novel by Michel d'Astous and Anne Boyer — (role : Normand Bélanger, a former professor suffering from dementia)

As composer

Movie theater 1957 La Belle Rombière by Guillaume Hanoteau and Jean Clevers, 1951 1961 The Ice Rink by Gilles Carle 1964 Trouble-Maker (Trouble-fète) by Pierre Patry 1972 The Rebels (Quelques arpents de neige) by Denis Héroux 1974 The Beautiful Sundays by Richard Martin 1984 My Travels in Canada by Marc Blais (Cf. Escale 84) 1991 The Dance Goes On (Norstar) by Paul Almond 2002 Rivers of Silver by Michel Gauthier

Television 1962 Beyond the Ages (SRC) 1962 The Weather (SRC) 1962 Debureau (SRC) 1965 Kill the Fatted Calf (SRC) 1966 On the return of the white geese (SRC) 1968 Turntable (SRC) 1968 Virginia (SRC) 1968 Media (SRC) 1968 Manual (SRC) 1969 The Cell (SRC) 1969 Florence (SRC) 1969 Review (SRC) 1971 Of Mice and Men (SRC) 1971 The Two Waltzes (SRC) 1971 Between noon and evening (SRC) 1971 Friday Deadline (SRC) 1971 The Time of Lilacs (SRC) 1972 La Perdrière (SRC) 1972 The Shipwreck (SRC) 1974 The Beautiful Sundays by Richard Martin 1974 A woman in blue at the bottom of a rain garden (SRC) 1974 Cold Millionaire (SRC) 1974 The Pelican (SRC) 1980 Just a Memory (SRC) 1981 The Sons of Liberty (SRC) 1988 Good Sunday, music from the artistic chronicle (TVA) 1991–1995 Scoop (SRC)

Concerts DVD 2005 Claude Léveillée in show. (Show "Cold Africa" presented at Place des Arts in 1977) (Zone 3, ZDVD561) 2010 1 time 5. (With Gilles Vigneault, Jean-Pierre Ferland, Robert Charlebois and Yvon Deschamps / Recorded 23 June 1976 in Montreal) (GSI Musique, Gsidvd0578)

As an actor 1957 The Eiffel Tower that kills, by Guillaume Hanoteau, 1946 (by the Théâtre de Quat'Sous, dir. Paul Buissonneau ) — 1958 Les Oiseaux de lune, by Marcel Aymé, 1955 (at the Théâtre de la Comédie-Canadienne ) — lead role

As a theater composer 1956 Orion the Killer, by Jean-Pierre Grenier and Maurice Fombeure, 1946 (at the National Drama Festival, Center Saint-André-Apôtre) — musical part of this play directed by Paul Buissonneau

As composer of revues or musicals 1963 Les Éphémères with a libretto by Paul Buissonneau. Submitted twice, it was ultimately never played. 1964 Gogo Loves You (Off-Broadway in New York), with a libretto by Anita Loos and Gladys Shelley (composed in 1961) 1964 Le Doux Temps des amours, libretto by Louis-Georges Carrier 1965 Il est une saison, libretto by Louis-Georges Carrier 1966 Don't miss the spy, libretto by Louis-Georges Carrier 1967 She will turn the Earth, libretto by Louis-Georges Carrier 1967 We only love once, libretto by Louis-Georges Carrier 1968 Noah's Ark, libretto by Louis-Georges Carrier 1968 Les Posters, booklet by Louis-Georges Carrier 1973 For five cents of love 1975 Summer is called Julie, libretto by Louis-Georges Carrier

As a composer of tales 1972 The saying of the eagle and the beaver, story by Gilles Vigneault