The Francophone world has some heroes: few of them are artists who succeeded to promote their culture outside their native community. Their names are famous: Jacques Brel (Belgium), Edith Piaf (France) or Félix Leclerc (Quebec).
Related to the celebrations of Quebec City for the 400 years of its foundation in 2008, we would like to share with you the fabulous life of the “Grand Félix”. Born on August 2nd, 1914 in La Tuque in a family of 11 children, Félix Leclerc studied in the University of Ottawa, and became a radio DJ in 1934. He started writing scripts, plays and songs aired on Radio Canada: his first song “Notre sentier” is released in 1939. Expressing the traditions and the daily life of ordinary people, his success grew and Félix Leclerc was invited in France in 1950: it was a triumph and he received many awards.
Back in Quebec in 1953, Félix Leclerc lived in Saint-Pierre-de-l’Île-d’Orléans until his death in August 1988. His most famous songs are “Le petit bonheur”, “Le train du nord” and “L’hymne au printemps”. Often introduced as the father of the Quebec chanson, he was also a poet, an actor, a writer and an activist. This full artist showed his community and the world that it was possible to live differently daily - in French - in North America.