Singer and presenter Serge Laprade died of cancer on Wednesday evening. A major television star of the 1960s, he was one of the personalities who shaped the beginnings of stardom in Quebec. He was 83 years old.
In the middle of the Yé-Yé period, at the time of the Jeunesse d'hui, Serge Laprade attracted attention with romantic ballads such as Capri, c'est fini, a cover by the French singer Hervé Villard. With his advantageous physique, he quickly became a sex symbol, like Michel Louvain, Pierre Lalonde and Donald Lautrec.
Then, in 1970, he surprised by starring alongside Danielle Ouimet in L'initiation, an erotic film by Denis Héroux that followed the very controversial Valérie. “He took a big risk by taking on the role. He was a very popular star and I was very controversial because of Valérie. But we had so much fun on set. We have laughed so much. If people knew all our movements, they would realize that there is nothing erotic in this film,” jokes Danielle Ouimet.
The presenter and actress is mourning the loss of a friend today. She will remember “a great man,” generous and easy to approach. Serge Laprade had an excellent reputation in the Quebec showbiz community, she assures.
The King of the Four Seasons
In the 1970s he hosted the very popular game show Le travail à la Chaîne on Radio-Canada. Then, in the 1980s, he hosted Garden-Party with Michèle Richard on the young Télévision Quatre- Saisons (TQS). Their collaboration ends abruptly when an argument breaks out between the two co-hosts. Michèle Richard does not accept that the names of her sponsors do not appear first in the credits. During a press conference that will go down in history, she accused Serge Laprade of being a “thin fox” and of trying to “morally destroy” her. During that famous press conference, the diva exclaimed, “I am not a servant of Quatre-saisons, I am the queen of Quatre-saisons.” I was ! The queen is dead, long live the queen. »
The two stars reconciled years later during the show The Return of Our Idols, in which Serge Laprade took part in 2016.
Extroverted in front of the camera, Serge Laprade was also a reserved and discreet man, especially when it came to his private life. Like Michel Louvain, he carefully managed his career and carefully avoided publicly revealing his homosexuality. The general public only found out about this last October during her marriage to her partner of 50 years, Daniel Arsenault.
“You have to know that it was a different time. Michael [Louvain] and he were enchanting singers. Their female audience would not have followed them if they had come out. Even if everyone in the industry had known, they would have been banned from television. They would have been treated like corrupt people. Morals have changed today, and fortunately,” emphasizes Danielle Ouimet.
Politicized man
Danielle Ouimet describes Serge Laprade as a very intelligent, very cultured person, which most people did not suspect, who associated him with ease due to his image as a variety show host. An observation shared by Gilles Proulx, who worked with him when he hosted on the CKLM station.
“He was hired in the early 1970s to head CKLM, which was in trouble. At first we laughed at him. We looked down on him. We wondered what a vaudeville singer might know about radio. But ultimately he managed to change the program to enhance the station. He was a true gentleman. “I never heard him speak badly about anyone,” recalls the polemicist.
Gilles Proulx, an early sovereigntist, remembers heated political conversations with Serge Laprade, a federalist who was also prominent at the time in the very nationalistic world of Quebec show business. Serge Laprade, who studied political science at the University of Montreal before his fame, even wore the colors of the Liberal Party of Canada in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve race in the 1988 federal election. He lost to the Progressive Conservative candidate.
“He was not a star who knew nothing about politics, who ran because a party asked him. He had real political thoughts. It was a sincere commitment. Serge was a reforming federalist that no longer exists today. He admired Robert Bourassa. He firmly believed that Canada could be changed by changing its constitution. He was certainly disappointed…” added Gilles Proulx.