Jacqueline Lemay

Jacqueline Marie Adée Lemay (May 23, 1937 – March 9, 2026) was a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist. She composed more than 300 songs and released numerous albums. Lemay taught and performed popular songs in English in the cabarets of Rouyn-Noranda and was a member of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Canada from 1957 to 1963. She, Lise Aubut, songwriter Angèle Arsenault and Édith Butler the founded small Société de production et de programmation de spectacles record-producing company in 1970.

Early life Lemay was born on May 23, 1937, in Guérin, Témiscamingue, Quebec. She had ten siblings, one of whom, , was a musician in the band Les Jérolas. In 1954, Lemay earned her supplementary teaching certificate from the École normale Ville-Marie, Témiscamingue and got a advanced teaching certificate from the École normale de Sherbrooke in 1958. when she was 17, Lemay was teaching and performed popular songs in English in the cabarets of Rouyn-Noranda. She did not write down her songs; as soon as she completed a song, so as not to lose it, she recorded it on a cassette tape, saying it would take more time for her to write a song than record it. Lemay toured in Quebec as well as the United States and also performed on radio and television. the song was performed by Pauline Julien in Quebec and Isabelle Aubret in French-speaking Europe. Lemay advised the MACQ between 1980 and 1982 and hosted a CBC Radio program on song in 1983. Lemay recorded the CD album Présences in 1990, and a collection of mood music on cassette in 1991. In 1991, she founded the PERC (Projets Éducatifs Route Claire – Route Claire Educational Projects) and released the complication album Les 27 chansons (The 27 Songs) with Arsenault and Butler in 1996 following an approach by the Centre de pédagogie dynamique de Sherbrooke.

Lemay was the composer of more than 300 songs and several of them were published by the Éditions de l'Échelle. She composed "Je voudrais être", "Qui je suis" and "Le Fil de la rivière" for Butler, and "Aut' fidélité", "Le Québécois" and "Les Jeans" among others and several of her songs were complied into the three-cassette album Des succès inoubliables in 1989.

Death She died on March 9, 2026 and a religious ceremony for her took place on April 11 at the Centre funéraire Côte-des-Neiges, Montreal.