Gilles Vigneault

About

The artist

Gilles Vigneault is a Quebec poet, storyteller, publisher, and singer-songwriter based in Saint-Placide. Born in Natashquan in 1928, he studied literature at Université Laval, taught French, founded the poetry journal Émourie and Les éditions de l'Arc, and began performing publicly at La boîte à chansons in Quebec City in 1960. His writing draws on oral memory, landscape, work, community, and the expressive possibilities of the French language. Songs including Mon pays and Gens du pays became central reference points in Quebec culture, while his body of work also includes poetry collections, stories, theatre, children's works, recordings, and collaborations. Across more than six decades, Vigneault has worked with musicians and performers including Gaston Rochon, Bruno Fecteau, Daniel Thouin, Louise Forestier, Yvon Deschamps, Les Charbonniers de l'Enfer, and many others. His honours include Governor General's Literary Awards, the Denise-Pelletier Prize, the Molson Prize, induction into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, appointment as Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec, and French honours in the Legion of Honour and the Order of Arts and Letters. His 2021 album Comme une chanson d'amour was recorded with producer Jim Corcoran. Current activity includes extensive 2024 Radio-Canada interviews, 2025 celebrations marking 50 years of Gens du pays, the book and music project La Couleur du beau temps, a documentary, and an onstage appearance at Montréal's 2026 Saint-Jean-Baptiste celebration. The exact Spotify identity currently exposes 12 primary albums from Les îles in 1987 through Comme une chanson d'amour in 2021. This is not a complete career discography: Vigneault's official site announced in January 2022 that his works were being removed from Spotify, so the remaining provider catalog is explicitly described as a partial current view. His official website supplies biography, discography, writing, news, and a professional contact form. Spotify media is rendered remotely with provider attribution.