Johanne Blouin

Blouin, Johanne

Johanne Blouin. Singer, b St-Hyacinthe, Que, 19 Sep 1955. Her mother, Lena Cushen, was a jazz singer, and her father, Claude Blouin, a trombonist who accompanied Trenet, Sinatra, Liberace, and Garland. She began to sing in night-clubs at 16. In 1980 she was a chorister in the rock opera Starmania and in Carole Laure and Lewis Furey's show Vous auriez dû mentir. In 1987 during the first week of the Semaine de la chanson française d'ici, she performed Félix Leclerc's 'Le P'tit Bonheur'. Her first LP, Merci Félix (1988, Guy Cloutier Productions PGC-904), composed entirely of songs by Leclerc and released shortly before his death, sold more than 200,000 copies and won her the Félix Award for performer of the year. Her second LP, Johanne Blouin (1989, PGC-910), featuring songs by Michel Rivard, Jean-Pierre Ferland, Louise Forestier, and Jim Corcoran, won the Félix for best pop album of 1990. 'Dors Caroline,' a song by Pierre Flynn, was first on the Radio-Activité chart in October 1989. She made a third recording in 1990, the CD Sainte Nuit (PGC-CD-914). The richness of her voice and the quality of the songwriters who wrote for her made her a much-loved singer in a remarkably short time. As Paul Cauchon wrote, 'in performance, she looks like a next-door neighbour. With a direct and easy manner, she can make the public sing as if she were in a parish hall' (Montreal Le Devoir, 22 Oct 1988).