Singer-songwriter Marie-Denise Pelletier releases Thursday Under My Skin as a Woman, her first album of original songs in 12 years. The singer is well surrounded there, alongside Robert Charlebois, Michel Rivard, Louis-Jean Cormier and even the multidisciplinary artist Marc Séguin, who wrote the lyrics to Petite fin du monde.
Just over 40 years ago, in 1982, the singer won the performance prize at the Granby International Song Festival. Four years later, she was discovered by the general public through the role of Stella Spotlight in Starmania and released her first album, First Contact.
Since 2019, she has been touring Quebec with Marie Carmen and Joe Bocan with the award-winning ADISQ show “Pour une histoire d’un soir,” which has far exceeded the milestone of 50,000 tickets sold.
Looking back, Marie-Denise Pelletier considers herself lucky to have been able to sing for so long. “I made my dream come true because I dreamed of it all my life,” she explains at the microphone of Rebecca Makonnen in the program “Fueling the Fire”.
It’s not over yet, I should sing for a few more years, but for me it’s like I’ve accomplished my mission. I’m really very proud of my path because it wasn’t always easy.
Find love
At 63, the woman who claims to have a doctorate on heartbreak is releasing an album of romance inspired in part by her meeting her partner Normand almost nine years ago. She also dedicates this album to him.
There is certainly a romantic streak. I met the man of my life when I was 55, and the journey was long […] “My life has literally changed since then,” she explains.
Pure coincidence or sign of life, Marie-Denise Pelletier met Normand just a few steps from where she filmed the music video for Tous les cris les SOS in 1988, on the Îles-de-la-Madeleine, home of the Montrealer’s adoption since 1979.
Collaboration with Charlebois, Marc Séguin and several others
If “Under my skin as a woman” inevitably talks about love, more serious topics are also addressed, such as that of the environment in a song signed by Marc Séguin “Petite fin du monde”.
I had the great privilege of sitting next to him at a dinner hosted by Diane Juster, who has the gift of bringing diverse people together. This evening the mayonnaise was used. “We chatted and got along really well,” explains Marie-Denise Pelletier.
I love him because he is not politically correct, he says exactly what he thinks. But it is also his way of expressing it: he has a poetic spirit, a way of making us see life through nature.
Michel Rivard wrote the lyrics and music for “Novembre”, while Robert Charlebois composed the music that accompanies Marc Chabot’s lyrics for “Lend me your dream”. Moran and Catherine Major collaborated to produce Je t’ai sais and Louis-Jean Cormier composed the music for This Woman.
Marie-Denise Pelletier will be touring to present Under My Woman’s Skin across the province starting February 8, 2024. Concert dates and tickets are available on Marie-Denise Pelletier’s website (New Window).
With information from Rebecca Makonnen, host of the show Oil on the Fire.