Robert Charlebois

Robert Charlebois was born in Montréal in June 1944. He made his debut in September 1962 – he was not yet 20 – opening for Félix Leclerc at La Butte à Mathieu. In 1965, his song La Boulée, composed when he was just 16, earned him the Grand Prix at the Festival du disque.

In 1967, he spent three months in California, where he was strongly influenced by the counterculture movement, and met some of America’s leading rock musicians. His song Lindberg, a pure product of this period, created shock waves and cemented his reputation.

In 1968, he achieved his first great triumph in the memorable musical review L’Osstidcho, which spoke to the longings of a generation of anti-conformists hungry for change. Robert Charlebois and his collaborators Yvon Deschamps and Louise Forestier took the cultural arena by storm with their boldness and provocative humour. Soon after, Robert Charlebois was awarded the Grand Prix of the Festival de la chanson française in Spa, Belgium. In 1969, he appeared for the first time at the Olympia, Paris’s prestigious music hall, for another memorable performance. He then began a long series of tours, including a famous cross-Canada railroad tour with key figures from the U.S. rock scene including Janis Joplin, The Band and The Grateful Dead.

At home in the theatre, on film and behind the microphone, Robert Charlebois is celebrated by both the public and his peers, continually astonishing critics and earning numerous prizes and distinctions: the Académie Charles-Cros award, the Médaille d’or from the Olympiades de la chanson, the Prix de la Ville de Paris, the Médaille de Vermeil from the Académie française and the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award. Ultimately, in 1993, ADISQ presented him with the Félix Hommage for his lifetime achievements.

Robert Charlebois has left his mark on an era and on generations of artists – and he continues to do so – through his lyrics, his poetry, his explosive and diversified creativity, his thousands of performances and his more than 20 albums.

Robert Charlebois was inducted into the Academy of Great Montrealers in the Cultural category in 2006 and was named a Commander of the Ordre de Montréal in 2016.