The news everyone dreaded finally arrived late on Nov. 15, 2023: Karl Tremblay, the frontman of one of Québec’s – and France’s – most revered bands, Les Cowboys Fringants, passed away at the age of 47, after a long battle with prostate cancer. “With an indescribable sadness, we announce the passing of Karl. He was an exemplary warrior in the face of illness, and a role model for us all. We wish to thank everyone who’s shown us love over the past years; your support has made us stronger,” wrote Marie-Annick Lépine, his life partner and fellow bandmember, alongside Jean-François Pauzé and Jérôme Dupras, on their social networks.

Born on Oct. 28, 1976, Karl Tremblay met his Cowboys Fringants sidekick and the band’s main songwriter, Jean-François Pauzé, at the age of 18. Their creative partnership gelled rapidly between 1995 and 2000, while they wrote songs and performed in bars and brasseries in and around the Montréal suburb of Repentigny, and independently recorded three albums: 12 grandes chansons, Sur mon canapé and Motel Capri.

It was the start of an exceptional career in the Québec music world, but also the beginning of an unprecedented love affair between the band and their audience. Their fan base was loyal, passionate, and inspired, thanks to the band’s heartfelt portraits of everyday characters – that the audience identified with as much as the more political and social protest songs they wrote. That reputation became undeniable with the release of their album Break Syndical (2002) that included the song “En berne,” which immediately became the anthem for a whole generation of disillusioned youth. They followed with a string of successes over some 15 albums, while the group’s popularity was on a meteoric rise, both at home and in France –  where the Cowboys, until very recently, were stadium fillers.

The news of Tremblay’s health issues in July of 2022 was devastating to the group’s fans. Despite it all, Tremblay and his bandmates weren’t going to give up that easily. Despite multiple cancellations and postponements of concerts due to his medical treatments, they were able to make one last round of dates that lasted just over a year, culminating with their performance at the Festival d’été de Québec on July 17, 2023, in front of 90,000 listeners. The audience enjoyed every moment of the highly emotional show, which served as the farewell to a man who forever marked the history of popular music in Québec.

The whole SOCAN family extends its most sincere condolences to the members of the Cowboys Fringants, to Karl Tremblay’s family, to the entire team at La Tribu, the Cowboys’ record label and booking agency, and to all those who had the honour of meeting, even briefly, this true giant of Québec’s musical ecosystem.

Mais au bout du ch’min, dis-moi c’qui va rester
De la p’tite école et d’la cour de récré
Quand les avions en papier ne partent plus au vent
On se dit que l’bon temps passe finalement
Comme une étoile filante

— “Les Étoiles filantes,” Les Cowboys Fringants

[freely translated]
But at the end of the road, tell me what will be left
Of grade school and its playground
When paper planes don’t catch the wind anymore
And we tell ourselves that good times, in the end
Are as fleeting as a shooting star