The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame is inducting Francine Raymond and Christian Péloquin, on Sunday, April 11, 2021, during Le grand variété de Star Académie, broadcast on the TVA network in Québec.

“It’s an honour and a true privilege to be inducting two artists of the calibre of Francine Raymond and Christian Péloquin. Their skill and the exceptional body of work that they created together deserve to be honoured!” said Vanessa Thomas, Executive Director of the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame (CSHF).

With a singular, authentic voice, and a strong sense of melody, singer-songwriter Francine Raymond has triumphed on the radio waves in Québec, and reached the highest rankings on the charts during the last 35 years: no fewer than eight consecutive No. 1 songs; 18 SOCAN Awards; 14 nominations at the ADISQ award ceremonies; the Félix for Singer-Songwriter of the Year; and an Octave d’or international Francophonie award granted by Radio France International (RFI) for her song “Y’a les mots.”

Her discography includes five critically-acclaimed albums. With her extensive stage experience,  Raymond always presented herself as she is, comfortable with both fiery passion and sweetness, and as connected with her musicians as with her audience. The songs she created between 1986 and 1996 with her guitarist Christian Péloquin have always prioritized folk and rock roots; ballads superimposed on masterful harmonic progressions; upbeat bridges; and choruses that live with us for life. Whether it’s “Vivre avec celui qu’on aime,” “Y’a les mots,” “Tous les bateaux font des vagues,” “Pense à moi,” “Souvenirs retrouvés,” “Pour l’amour qu’il nous reste,” “Pour te revoir,” or “Magie noire et blanche,” her hit songs have left their mark on Québec’s collective imagination.

A self-taught musician active since 1971, Christian Péloquin is also a producer, arranger, conductor, musical director, composer, and performer. He’s mastered several instruments, including guitar, dobro, mandolin, banjo, piano, Hammond organ, Wurlitzer, Fender Rhodes piano, drums, and bass. Peloquin is Raymond’s creative partner on her greatest hits, and the collaboration of this tightly-knit duo is remarkable.

“In 1977, I met Christian and his brother Michel,” says Raymond.. “They’d  come to one of my concerts to suggest that I visit their studio in Longueuil and record the demos of my songs there, with them. Once my series of TV commitments had ended, I (narrowly) passed my driver’s licence exam and got my first used car, so that I could start the journey towards my destiny. This rich musical adventure quickly led to broader collaborations rooted in mutual sharing, which, year after year, transformed us as we kept striving to surpass ourselves. This was undeniably the springboard of a lifetime. An instant – yet eternal – fusion. Thank you for everything, my brothers.”

“We’ve
always composed in an intuitive way, Francine and I,” says Péloquin. “I always harnessed rock and pop musical influences in the writing of our songs. One melody can often inspire another. In the studio, we could spend 30 minutes without talking to one another, each of us in our own universe, finding tunes and choruses. We worked a lot on melodies, which often stemmed from sound sketches I’d recorded on a cassette, earlier.”

On four out of five of Raymond’s albums, Péloquin, a melodist in high demand in the industry, stamped his personal mark of excellence on the work. The first album, simply called Francine Raymond (1987), gave us the song “Vivre avec celui qu’on aime” (lyrics by Luc Plamondon), an official SOCAN Classic. The second album, Souvenirs retrouvés (1989), with its hits “Pour l’amour qu’il nous reste,  “Droit devant,” and “Souvenirs retrouvés,” placed the team among the leading songwriters on the Francophone scene. Les Années Lumières (1993) unveiled five gems: “Y’a les mots,” “Pense à moi,” “À tous ceux qui s’aiment,” “Pour te revoir,” and “Les années Lumières,” five hits in a row that all reached No. 1 on the radio. Dualité (1996) gave us, among other things, “Tous les bateaux font des vagues,” “Magie noire et blanche,” and “Apprivoise.”

The entire body of work of Francine Raymond’s five albums is available on digital platforms everywhere in the Francophone world. The songs found on these albums are critically acclaimed and have, in most cases, received nominations or awards at the ADISQ gala. The Conseil de la chanson francophone, Radio-France International (RFI), and the French network of the CBC all celebrate the great lengths of time that these hits spent in the charts.