MONTREAL (CelebrityAccess) — French-Canadian singer-songwriter Jean-Pierre Ferland, a prolific artist with a vast music catalog that included hits such as “Une chance qu’on s’a” has died. He was 89.
According to the Canadian Press, Ferland died in Quebec on Saturday of natural causes following a hospitalization earlier this year.
With a career that spans six decades, Ferland wrote more than 450 songs and recorded more than 30 albums, putting his mark as one of the most influential Canadian artists in history.
A Montreal native, Ferland began his career at Radio Canada, writing songs in his off hours before recording his first album, Jean-Pierre, in 1959.
However, he didn’t manage to break through for another two years with the release of his second album, Rendez-vous à La Coda, which propelled him to international acclaim.
In 1976 Ferland joined other French-Canadian recording artists Claude Léveillée, Gilles Vigneault, and Robert Charlebois to perform for the annual St. John’s Day concert, an event which would take on legendary status in Montreal. Ferland commemorated the event with an album, Une Fois Cinq which was awarded the Académie Charles Cros Award the following year.
In addition to his own work as a live performer, Ferland was a prodigious songwriter, writing hits for artists such as Céline Dion, Félix Leclerc, Ginette Reno, and Nathalie Simard, among others.
He officially retired with health issues in 2006 but continued to perform, including in 2008 when he joined Celine Dion, Zachary Richard, Éric Lapointe, Claude Dubois, Jean-Pierre Ferland and Ginette Reno for a performance in the Plains of Abraham battlefield in Quebec to mark the city’s 400th anniversary.
He was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec in 2003 and inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2007.
