In 2024, Beau Dommage will celebrate 50 years since the release of his first album. With their unique vocal harmonies and their simple yet touching lyrics, this group has left its mark on Quebec's musical history. Our archives show that the enthusiasm for Beau Dommage songs has never waned for five decades.
We decided to do this with words we used every day.
Beau Dommage began to form in 1972.
This group consists of Pierre Bertrand (guitar, bass, vocals), Michel Rivard (guitar, vocals), Marie Michèle Desrosiers (keyboards, vocals), Réal Desrosiers (drums), Pierre Huet (lyricist), Robert Léger (keyboards, flute) . ) and Michel Hinton (keyboards from 1975).
The first album was released on December 9, 1974 and was a resounding success. It sold 210,000 copies in Quebec and Europe in just one month.
The songs from the album Beau Dommage quickly became classics: Ginette, Le Picbois, Tous les palmiers, À tous les temps, Harmonie du soir à Châteauguay, December 23rd, Le Géant Beaupré, Montréal, La Complainte du phoque en Alaska.
On August 5, 1975, the group's members took part in a program dedicated to Quebec music from the 1970s.
Interview with the members of the Beau Dommage group. Explanation of the group's musical style, its influences and the omnipresence of the city of Montreal in the lyrics. Journalist: Yvon Leblanc. Director: Renault Gariépy.
When journalist Yvon Leblanc asks her to define Beau Dommage, Michel Rivard replies that it is somewhere between Charles Trenet and Elvis Presley.
Michel Rivard and Pierre Bertrand talk about the group's roots. Montreal childhood and adolescence were the core and essence of Beau Dommage.
The metropolis shapes every song by the group.
Like our surroundings, it is Montreal, we used Montreal and we talk about it, but it is not about praising the city excessively: it is simply about describing what surrounds us. We really are part of the decor.
A few weeks later, on September 13, 1975, Beau Dommage was welcomed on the set of the show Lise Lib.
Meeting with the Beau Dommage group. It's about the resounding success of his first album and his first stay in Paris. Moderator: Lise Payette.
Moderator Lise Payette asks the members of the group whether rapid success scares them.
The musicians, aged 25 on average, then returned from a major tour that covered 60 cities and even France.
They talk about their experiences on French radio stations and their performances in Quebec, often performed in CEGEP and high school auditoriums.
Of course, young people also come to see the show, but so do their parents.
I think we can use the old cliche [du journal] from Tintin: from 7 to 77 years old. […] People react differently. Of course not everyone likes the same songs. But they are all there to listen to us, and that is the greatest gift we can have.
In 1978 the group broke up. Some members then start solo careers.
Beau Dommage reformed in 1984, it was time to say goodbye to its audience.
Presented in Quebec and Montreal, the show not only offers the opportunity to cover old hits, but also to introduce the audience to the material of the solo singers who have become Marie Michèle Desrosiers, Pierre Bertrand and Michel Rivard.
On this occasion, host Pierre Maisonneuve speaks with Michel Rivard and Marie Michèle Desrosiers.
Interview with Michel Rivard and Marie Michèle Desrosiers about their “official farewell show” at the Montreal Forum. Moderator: Pierre Maisonneuve.
In 1984, Beau Dommage no longer existed, but all of its members remained deeply connected to the song in their work.
Everyone wanted to do something different, everyone wanted to experiment with different music or other forms of expression.
Michel Rivard, who was the first to want to work alone, speaks of a trend that swept through society at the end of the 1970s: the return to the individual.
The entire culture has learned this, the importance of self.
To the great surprise of the audience, the group regrouped in 1995 and set out across Quebec with new songs.
Report by Paul Toutant who talks about the group Beau Dommage's tour for their latest album. Moderator: Simon Durivage.
Paul Toutant attends the opening show of this tour, which starts at the Palace in Granby.
The report begins with the song “Échappé belle,” which was played on all radios that year. Released in 1994, this album contains new songs and is already certified double platinum. Seventeen years after their separation, the members of Beau Dommage are back in full possession of their resources.
Once again, it's the same observation in the room: the young and old who attend the show know the lyrics to each of the songs by heart.
Words that, as journalist Paul Toutant points out, “express without condescension the daily reality of the working class.”
With this letter we have put our finger on something. Without wanting it, without knowing it, we have found something, and this something is very strong and connects many people.
In 2015, the Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie district named an alley after the group's name and unveiled a fresco in their homage. The mural reproduces the cover of his first album, released in 1974.
The report of Tanya Lapointe, who attended the unveiling ceremony of a large mural honoring the Beau Dommage group in the Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie district behind 6760 rue de Saint-Vallier. Moderator: Patrice Roy.
You can admire the work of the painter and sculptor Jérôme Poirier at 6760 rue de Saint-Vallier, an address made legendary by the song Tous les palmiers.
Robert Léger, a tenant at 6760 Rue de Saint-Vallier, says the city couldn't have given them more honor.
We wanted to reflect people's intimate and daily lives. And is there anything more intimate and everyday than an alley? That suits us completely.
Start of the widget. Skip widget?
End of widget. Return to the top of the widget?