FRED PELLERIN & Stef Paquette (opening act)
Coup de coeur francophone 2015
Doors at 7.30 p.m.

FRED PELLERIN (Quebec)
Show "De Peigne et de misère"


One might say Fred Pellerin became a gifted story-teller without even trying. He grew up hearing the tales told by his grandmother, his neighbour Eugene and his accountant father, and he went on to get a degree in literature from the Université du Québec.
His stories are the ones from his village, Saint-Elie-de-Caxton, a small town in the Quebec region known as la Mauricie. Anecdotes, gossip, rumours go into his blender and come out as fairy tales for grown ups.
At the age of 37, Fred Pellerin already has over 2,500 professional shows under his belt, performed throughout the francophone world. He has done five shows that each take an illustrious person from his village as its protagonist: the first, in 2001, “Dans mon village, il y a Belle Lurette”, followed by “Il faut prendre le taureau par les contes!” (2003), “Comme une odeur de muscles” (2005), “L’Arracheuse de temps” (2008) and the most recent show, “De peigne et de misère” (2012), inspired by the character Méo, the hairdresser.. or perhaps the hairmesser of the village!
The first show was performed more that six hundred times in France and Quebec and earned him a bronze medal at the Jeux de la Francophonie in 2001. The second opened the door for him to the world of cinema, with a commission to write the script for a film drawn from the main character Babine. The third show was seen by over 150,000 spectators at more than 450 performances and was made into a second film. The fourth show was certified “double platinum”, in recognition of over 200,000 tickets sold in Canada and in Europe. And finally, the most recent show went on the road in the fall of 2012, with over 200 sold-out performances. It was the last two shows that opened doors to him in France, where he chalked up over 70 sold-out shows in Paris and more than 275 shows in French-speaking Europe.
In 2008, he won the Félix award for traditional album of the year for his recording “Fred and Nicolas Pellerin”. In November 2009, Fred Pellerin released what has become a classic in Quebec: his solo album “Silence”. After just two weeks on the market, it was Gold, and two weeks later it was a Platinum recording! To date, over 150,000 copies have been sold! The album “Silence” also earned him the Félix award for folk album of the year at the ADISQ competition, as well as a Juno nomination in 2011 for best francophone album of the year. A gigantic exploit that is altogether worthy of this rare artist who continues to restore our faith in the goodness of humanity.
In November 2011, Fred Pellerin released his second solo album, entitled “C’est un monde”, which won the Félix award for folk album of the year at the 2012 Adisq competition. To date, it has sold over 70,000 copies.
In December 2011, Fred Pellerin presented a Christmas story with Kent Nagano and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra at Place des Arts. This show was broadcast on CBC Radio-Canada television and won the 2013 Gémeaux award for the best variety special.
In November 2012, the film Ésimésac, screenplay by Fred Pellerin, took the movie theatres by storm. The documentary on the making of the film, also scripted by Fred Pellerin, was presented on CBC Radio-Canada television at the beginning of December, 2012.
In June 2013, Fred Pellerin set up in the Théâtre L ’Atelier in Paris for one month to present his new show “De Peigne et de misère”. The show is still on tour, and it will bring Fred Pellerin to Vancouver for the first time on November 27, 2015.

Show description:"DE PEIGNE ET DE MISÈRE"
On the census list of the legendary Saint‐Elie‐de-Caxton, the first name to appear is that of the barber Méo, who will go down in history with his curling iron. Stationed at his hair salon on the main street for countless years, Méo has been the general guardian of capillary affairs in the village for a very long time. This gives him privileged access to what goes on in people’s heads, and he has become extremely adept at sorting out grey hairs and black thoughts. When things get a bit too hairy, he is able to mount a head-on attack against the proponents of the straight and narrow part on the right side. His genius verges on madness. Or perhaps his madness verges on genius. What difference does it make? It’s one and the same thing.
As he combs through people’s secrets and gains their absolute trust, Méo develops a philosophical stance on life. A clever strategist of the incredible, he knows exactly what’s up, and without him, the private history of the village would be lost to posterity.
But one day, in a hair-raising brush with fate, the village has to shoulder the weight of human destiny. It is Méo who succeeds in keeping the flame of hope alive.


STEF PAQUETTE (Ontario)

Stéphane (Stef) Paquette is a Franco-Ontarian singer, actor and radio show host, born in 1973 in Chelmsford, Ontario. In the course of his career as a singer-songwriter-composer, Stef has won many awards, including La Brunante, the Festival en Chanson de St. Ambroise (Quebec) where he was the first Franco-Ontarian to carry off the prize, and he was a finalist in the Festival International de la Chanson de Granby (Quebec). His album “L’homme exponentiel” was named Best Album at the 2005 Trille Or awards competition.
In 2005, Stef was selected to represent Canada at the Music Without Borders Festival in Cairo, Egypt. During this trip he also performed in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) and in Beirut (Lebanon).
In 2008, he was selected to represent Ontario in the Francoforce project, a pan-Canadian tour to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the City of Quebec.
He took on the role of sponsor of the 2011 Ontario Pop competition and he was invited to take part on stage in the final show of the group CANO, which was broadcast on TFO on September 25, 2011.
His album “Le Salut de l’arrière-pays”, released in 2013, won the Trille d’Or prize for Best Album. Numerous other prizes have given him the opportunity to perform the show taken from this album all over Canada, including his first performance in Vancouver at the upcoming 2015 Coup de cœur francophone de Vancouver in November.