Diane Dufresne almost left the stage before she celebrated her 50th birthday. Twenty-eight years later, as we prepare to induct her into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, a first for a Francophone artist, creativity remains her driving force, both on stage and in the visual arts. .
At 78, the great artist, whom we recognize for her unique voice and her sensitive interpretation, returns to the stage this summer with her show-talk Diane Dufresne by appointment, in which her audience, loyal to him for six decades, can ask him questions through readings and his most beautiful songs. She is accompanied on the piano by Olivier Godin in this intimate show without artificiality.
But before she returns to the spotlight, Diane Dufresne will be at the National Music Center in Calgary on May 18 for her induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame along with Oliver Jones, Terri Clark and Trooper. . She will then be the first member of the Panthéon whose repertoire is entirely in French.
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“As a French-speaking Quebecer, I’m proud of it. It’s my identity,” she told QMI Agency, which joins other Quebecers already in the pantheon like Leonard Cohen, Daniel Lanois and Luc Plamondon. The latter wrote him several songs, including his most beautiful, such as “Belmont Park”, “The Hymn to the Beauty of the World”, “I Need a Boyfriend”, “Oxygen” or “The Ups and Downs of a Hostess’ Air”. Plamondon also gave him a prominent place in Starmania in the late 1970s.
“Luc Plamondon was an avant-garde contemporary author. Speaking and singing with an accent wasn’t exactly easy back then; Singing with an accent in France was a kind of pride,” said Ms. Dufresne, who also remembers her great shows, like “Magie Rose” performed at the Olympic Stadium in 1984 to an audience dressed all in pink, or “Top Secret and “. La nuit à Fellini, “because the audience joined in”.
MARTIN ALARIE / QMI AGENCY
Diane Dufresne show at the opening of the Montreal Pride Festival on the Esplanade of the Olympic Stadium in August 2022.
authenticity
Diane Dufresne says she’s “always been authentic” and true to herself. “I can’t be any different, I am what I am, neither more nor less.”
Diane Dufresne, known for her extravagant costumes and lavish staging, wanted, according to her own ideas, “to create a dream in people” and thus “make room in their hearts to bring in much more emotion”.
Although we speak of her as a living legend, a giantess, Diane Dufresne has little interest in labels.
“It’s good, but I’ve been criticized a lot in my career. Time has passed and generations have changed, that’s okay, but I was also considered a diva. You always seem like a diva when you’re not doing what the world wants.
far from retirement
Diane Dufresne is far from saying her last word. She continues to enjoy fine arts, especially painting, and wants to dive back into her autobiography, which she began in 2017. wrote. I’m always creative.”
The one who has accompanied her husband Richard Langevin for the last few decades now wants to make him shine as he has returned to his first love as a sculptor and is preparing a retrospective entitled Continuum. This will be presented from May 24th at the Center d’art Diane-Dufresne in Repentigny.
The one who continues to care about ecology and now also about artificial intelligence is already thinking about her 80th birthday, which will be celebrated on September 30, 2024. “I’m not that far from 80, that’s pretty crazy!” People say old age is shipwreck. The body slides, but the head does not slide. When you’re old, your head is even better because you’re liberated from many things, you have more freedom, you’ve shaped your life and now you’re getting the best of yourself.