Willie Lamothe
Willie Lamothe was the stage name of Joachim Guillaume Lamothe CM (January 27, 1920 – October 19, 1992), a Canadian musician and actor from Quebec.[1] One of the pioneers of French language country music,[2] he recorded over 500 songs, both originals and translated renditions of English language country music hits, over the course of his career.[1]
Biography
Born and raised in Saint-Hyacinthe,[1] Lamothe served in the Canadian Army during World War II, beginning his career in music by performing as "The Singing Sergeant" for his fellow soldiers. Following the end of the war, he recorded his first mini-album, Je suis un cowboy canadien, in 1946.[3] He recorded a number of albums and singles over the next thirty years and frequently performed on tour, most frequently within Quebec but also from time to time in English Canada and at least one performance in Nashville.[1] His performances included shows opening for Gene Autry at the Montreal Forum in 1952 and 1954.[1]
Through the 1970s he performed as an actor in a number of films, most notably We Are Far from the Sun (On est loin du soleil), The True Nature of Bernadette (La Vraie nature de Bernadette), The Doves (Les Colombes) and The Death of a Lumberjack (La Mort d'un bûcheron), and won the Canadian Film Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1973 for the latter role.[4] In 1978 he won the Best Supporting Performer in a Non-Feature film for his role in The Machine Age (L'Âge de la machine).[5] During the same era, he was host of a television variety show, Le Ranch à Willie, for Télé-Métropole, and the subject of a documentary film, Je chante à cheval... avec Willie Lamothe, for the National Film Board.[1]
He suffered a stroke while performing in Rimouski in 1978,[6] and made only irregular appearances afterward, most notably in a CBC Television series about the history of Canadian country music in the 1990s.[1] He was inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada in 1979.[7]
His son Michel (1948-2019), also sometimes credited as "Willie Lamothe, Jr.", was a rock musician who was associated with the bands Offenbach and Corbeau.[1]
Lamothe died on October 19, 1992, at age 72.[1]
In popular culture
- Charles Brunet made a celebrity comic about Willy Lamothe in 1953.[8]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Willie Lamothe". The Canadian Encyclopedia, June 18, 2007.
- ^ "Night Beat". Ottawa Journal, May 1, 1971.
- ^ Robert Thérien, L'histoire de l'enregistrement sonore au Québec et dans le monde, 1878-1950. Presses Université Laval, 2003. ISBN 9782763779331. p. 207.
- ^ "A wake for Canadian cinema". The Globe and Mail, October 13, 1973.
- ^ "Canadian Film Awards 1949-1979". NorthernStars.ca. Archived from the original on May 11, 2019. Retrieved May 11, 2019.
- ^ "People in the news". Ottawa Journal, June 2, 1978.
- ^ "62 Canadians honoured: Orr, Augustyn joining Order". Ottawa Journal, June 29, 1979.
- ^ "Charles Brunet".
External links
- Willie Lamothe discography at Discogs
- Willie Lamothe at IMDb
- v
- t
- e
1970–2021
- Gratien Gélinas (1970)
- Danny Freedman (1971)
- Donald Pilon (1972)
- Willie Lamothe (1973)
- No Award (1974)
- Henry Beckman (1975)
- Frank Moore (1976)
- Jean Lapointe (1977)
- Henry Beckman (1978)
- Gordon Pinsent (1980)
- Germain Houde (1981)
- Saul Rubinek (1982)
- R. H. Thomson (1983)
- Michael Zelniker (1984)
- Alan Scarfe (1985)
- Alan Arkin (1986)
- Gabriel Arcand (1987)
- Germain Houde (1988)
- Rémy Girard (1989)
- Rémy Girard (1990)
- August Schellenberg (1991)
- Michael Hogan (1992)
- Kevin Tighe (1993)
- Don McKellar (1994)
- Kenneth Welsh (1995)
- Peter Donaldson (1996)
- Peter MacNeill (1997)
- Callum Keith Rennie (1998)
- Mark McKinney (1999)
- Martin Cummins (2000)
- Vincent Gale (2001)
- Elias Koteas (2002)
- Stéphane Rousseau (2003)
- Jean Lapointe (2004)
- Denis Bernard (2005)
- Stephen McHattie (2006)
- Armin Mueller-Stahl (2007)
- Callum Keith Rennie (2008)
- Maxim Gaudette (2009)
- Dustin Hoffman (2010)
- Viggo Mortensen (2011)
- Serge Kanyinda (2012)
- Gordon Pinsent (2013)
- John Cusack (2014)
- Nick Serino (2015)
- Vincent Cassel (2016)
- Ethan Hawke (2017)
- Richard Clarkin (2018)
- Rémy Girard (2019)
- Colm Feore (2020)
- Joshua Odjick (2021)
1970–2021
- Fernande Giroux (1970)
- Olivette Thibault (1971)
- Doris Petrie (1972)
- Camille Bernard (1973)
- No Award (1974)
- Lila Kedrova (1975)
- Tedde Moore (1976)
- Carole Lazare (1977)
- Marilyn Lightstone (1978)
- Geneviève Bujold (1980)
- Kate Reid (1981)
- Denise Filiatrault (1982)
- Jackie Burroughs (1983)
- Jackie Burroughs (1984)
- Linda Sorenson (1985)
- Linda Sorenson (1986)
- Louise Portal (1987)
- Paule Baillargeon (1988)
- Colleen Dewhurst (1989)
- Robyn Stevan (1990)
- Danielle Proulx (1991)
- Monique Mercure (1992)
- Nicola Cavendish (1993)
- Martha Henry (1994)
- Kate Nelligan (1995)
- Martha Burns (1996)
- Seana McKenna (1997)
- Monique Mercure (1998)
- Catherine O'Hara (1999)
- Helen Shaver (2000)
- Molly Parker (2001)
- Pascale Montpetit (2002)
- Marie-Josée Croze (2003)
- Jennifer Jason Leigh (2004)
- Danielle Proulx (2005)
- Carrie-Anne Moss (2006)
- Kristen Thomson (2007)
- Kristin Booth (2008)
- Martha Burns (2009)
- Minnie Driver (2010)
- Sophie Nélisse (2011)
- Seema Biswas (2012)
- Sarah Gadon (2013)
- Suzanne Clément (2014)
- Joan Allen (2015)
- Molly Parker (2016)
- Bahar Noohian (2017)
- Sarah Gadon (2018)
- Nour Belkhiria (2019)
- Mary Walsh (2020)
- Cherish Violet Blood (2021)
2022
- Aaron Pierre (2022)
2023-present
- Glenn Howerton (2023)
2023-present
- Chantal Thuy (2023)
Separate awards were presented by gender prior to 2022; ungendered awards for best performance regardless have been presented since.