Marjo (born Marjolène Morin). Singer, songwriter, b Montreal 2 Aug 1953. She was a model, fashion editor for the magazine Madame, and manager of L’Air du temps, a Montreal jazz bar, then a chorister in François Guy’s musical comedies Tout chaud, tout show (1975), and L’Île en ville (1978). In 1979 she joined the rock group Corbeau, established two years previously by Pierre Harel (singer and composer) with Jean Milaire (guitar), Michel Lamothe (bass guitar), Donald Hince (guitar), and Roger Belval (drums). Their explosive rock, tender and wild lyrics by Harel, and the powerful and sensual voice of Marjo, brought immediate success. After a first London LP (Corbeau, LFS-9031), the group recorded with Kébec-Disc from 1981 to 1984: Fou (KD-515), ’ Illégal,’ (KD-540), Visionnaire (EPKD-592), and Dernier cri (2-KD-619-620). The group gave hundreds of shows all over Quebec. ‘Illégal,’ composed by Harel, was one of the main hits of the Quebec chanson of that period, expressing the mute revolt of youth of the early 1980s. When Harel left the group, Marjo wrote the lyrics. In 1984 the group disbanded and Marjo began a solo career.|In 1984 she sang the blues at the Bistro à Jojo in Montreal, then in 1985 composed and performed ‘Touch Me,’ the theme song of the film La Femme de l’hôtel, which won a Genie Award in Toronto. With the guitarist and composer Jean Millaire (they composed some 40 songs together), she recorded the LP Celle qui viola in 1986 (Kébec-Disc KD-651), which sold 250,000 copies. ‘Les Chats sauvages’ revealed the profound personality of a rocker who became suddenly tender and cajoling. She won the Félix Awards for rock LP, rock show, and female performer of 1987. In 1990 the CD Tant qu’il y aura des enfants (Kébec-Disc KDC-669) confirmed her success as one of the greatest Quebec stars of her generation. It contained many hits, such as ‘Je sais, je sais,’ which recalls her love affair with Jean Millaire and the despair which befell the star at the height of her popularity.
Marjo has often been compared to Édith Piaf or Marilyn Monroe. In 1989, she declared to Châtelaine that ‘when I go on stage, I don’t consider myself a performer, but someone who lives’. Her rock songs and ballads, endowed with the spirit of Quebec, have broad appeal because of their simplicity and candour. Marjo was one of the first Quebec rock singers to explore all the wiles of sensuality and seduction. ‘One day we must study the influence that Marjo had on a whole generation of singers,’ Marie-Christine Blais has written. ‘There is not one, whether it be Marie Carmen, Maude, or Francine Raymond, who does not pay tribute to her. She opened the way by writing her own lyrics - inspired by what she was living - and by performing them with her guts, her integrity…’ (Chansons d’aujoud’hui, April 1990).
Author Christian Rioux |
