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Singer, TV show-host, born in Chicoutimi, Que, February 28th, 1961.
His father was a choir master on the Ile d'Orleans where he spend his childhood.
At 9 Rene was the prize winner on the program 'Les Decouvertes de Jen Roger' (CFTM-TV, Montreal).
This brought him to the attention of the impresario Guy Cloutier, who quickly made the boy soprano an international
pop music star. Whit his first show at the 'PDA' in 1971, the P'tit Simard captured the hears of Quebec audiences,
as did his first hit recordings 'Ave Maria', 'L'Oiseau' and ' Un Enfant Comme Les Autres', all for
Nobel, Cloutier's production company.
In 1974 he represented Canada at the International Festival of Song in Tokyo, where he won first prize for
performance and the Frank Sinatra trophy, which was presented by Sinatra himself.
Acclaimed in Japan and also in Paris, where he made his debut at the Olympis in 1975,
Simard embarked on a career in the English-speaking world. He appreared frequently on the US TV networks
with artists such as Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Liza Minnelli and Andy Williams and with Liberace both in
Las Vegas and in 1977-1979 of ' The Rene Simard Show', a CBC English-language TV variety series produced in
Vancouver showing a preference fo a US style of performance.
Rene Simard passed smoothly through the voice-change period, and he maintained his popularity, the
resulr of a carefully selected repertoire consisting of sentimental ballads such as 'Ma Mere Est Un Ange'
(written by his brother Regis), disco songs, and rock melodies which easily appealed to a wide audience
of all ages. Among his other major hits of that period are 'Les Dimanches Apres-Midi' (1974),
'Maman Laisse-Moi Sortir Ce Soir' (1975), "Bebe Bleu' (1975), 'Fernando' (1976),
'Bienvenue A Montreal' (Theme Song of the 1976 Montreal Olympics), 'Never Know The Reason Why' (1977).
and 'You're My Everything' (1978).
At the beginning of the 1980's, Rene Simard abandoned his teenage image for that of a seductive young man
with more of a rock look. With his sister Nathalie Simard, he hosted two live TV programs from Disney World in
Florida and Disneyland in California. He subsequently participated in Jerry Lewis' Telethon in Las Vegas.
In 1984-1985, he hosted 'R.S.V.P.' at Tele-Metropole. His record 'Tourne La Page' (1987), recorded with Nathalie,
helped confirm his change of image.
In 1988 he hosted the CBC TV program 'Laser 33-45' where he became a promoter of songs in the French language.
He has appeared in the documentary films 'Un Enfant Comme Les Autres' (1972) and
'Rene Simard au Japan' (1974) and he took part in the Quebec feature film 'J'ai Mon Voyage' (1974) and
CFTM-TV's Teleplay 'Les Berger'.
Assessing Simard's popularity, Patrick Conlon wrote:
'Simard's impish onstage exuberance appeals particularly to young gils (who want to marry him) and older
women (who want to mother him)... He works the audience to the limit, strutting and grinning across the stage ...
(Maclean's, Nov 3, 1975)
After his second engagement at the PDA Linda Nantel wrote in Photo-Journal (Dec 19, 1977) that 'his
superior talent and great facility of expression have made him 'great' in every sense that word encompasses
of professionalism.'
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