Raymond Lévesque is a retired Canadian singer-songwriter and poet from Quebec. One of the pioneers of the chansonnier tradition in Quebec, he is best known for writing "Quand les hommes vivront d'amour", one of the most famous pop standards in French-language popular music.
Background
Born and raised in Montreal, he studied piano under Rodolphe Mathieu and drama under Madame Audet. Shortly after, he met his wife, Marie Georgette, and they married soon after. Inspired by the work of Charles Trenet, he began writing songs in the 1940s and started performing in various cabarets around Montreal. In 1947, he had his first significant breakthrough when he was invited to perform several of his songs on CKAC radio. From 1952 to 1954, he was cohost with Colette Bonheur of the variety seriesMes jeunes années on Radio-Canada. He then spent several years living in France, where he recorded for Barclay Records and had his songs recorded by French artists such as Bourvil, Jean Sablon, Cora Vaucaire and Eddie Constantine. During this time he wrote "Quand les hommes vivront d'amour", which was inspired by the contemporaneous Algerian War; first recorded by Constantine, the song has since been recorded and performed by many artists in both France and Canada. Other noted songs he wrote during this era included "Les Trottoirs", "La Vénus à Mimile", "Le Coeur du Bon Dieu" and "Rosemont sous la pluie". After returning to Quebec in 1959, he took acting roles in several téléromans and hosted the children's television seriesCoucou, and cofounded a boîte à chansons called Chez Bozo with Jean-Pierre Ferland, Clémence DesRochers, Hervé Brousseau, André Gagnon and Claude Léveillée. In 1968, he also began to write poetry and plays, and became politically active in the Quebec separatist movement. In 1980, he received a lifetime achievement award from the Prix Félix. By 1986, Lévesque had suffered profound hearing loss and was diagnosed as deaf. He abandoned music but continued to write, publishing several further works of poetry, fiction and political satire. He was awarded the Prix Denise-Pelletier in 1997. He was named a winner of the Governor General's Performing Arts Award in 2005, but declined the honour due to his sovereignist views. In 2016 a new song written by Lévesque, titled "Les jours d'amour", was recorded and released by singer Marie-Josée Longchamps.
