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Alice Robitaille (February 3, 1923 – May 28, 2011), from
Quebec City
Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...
, "petite Alys" (little Alys), was a French Canadian singer mainly remembered for her later French interpretations of Latin American songs, who performed under the
stage name Alys Robi.
Youth
Born in 1923 in the
Quebec City
Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...
neighbourhood of Saint-Sauveur, Robitaille displayed talent for singing and acting at a very young age. She first performed on-stage at the
Capitol Theatre at 7. At the time, she had already sung on-air with the
CHRC radio station and was a real phenomenon in the whole city.
Career
![Radio](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Radio._Tourbillon_de_la_Gaiet%C3%A9._Alys_Robi_BAnQ_Vieux-Montr%C3%A9al_P48S1P23025.jpg)
At 13 she moved to the Théâtre National, on
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
's
Saint Catherine Street
Sainte-Catherine Street (french: rue Sainte-Catherine) () is the primary commercial artery of Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It crosses the central business district from west to east, beginning at the corner of Claremont Avenue and de ...
.
Under the direction of
Rose Ouellette, she learned acting and singing during a 75-week engagement. She continued her career in the Montreal
cabaret
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining o ...
s, making radio appearances. For a time during the war, she also hosted a French radio show named ''Tambour battant'' ("Rumbling drum"). Touring Canadian military bases propelled her career across Canada.
During the 1940s, she started producing
78s and she became renowned far beyond
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. She captured popular imagination with
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
titles like ''Besame Mucho'' and
''Tico tico'', after translating herself the Spanish or Brazilian songs into French. She sang in chic
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
cabarets by the mid forties and in 1947, she travelled to
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
where she made an appearance on the first regular
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
television programme.
Mental health
In 1948, while traveling by car to
Hollywood, she was injured in an accident, and entered a period of depression. After a series of unfortunate diagnoses, and a failed romance, she suffered a
mental breakdown and was interned for several years in a Quebec City asylum.
She was at some point subjected to a
lobotomy
A lobotomy, or leucotomy, is a form of neurosurgical treatment for psychiatric disorder or neurological disorder (e.g. epilepsy) that involves severing connections in the brain's prefrontal cortex. The surgery causes most of the connections t ...
against her will. She credited the operation with her recovery:
''"Je me réveillai guérie et j'ai compris plus tard que j'avais été un des rares cas réussis de lobotomie"'' (I woke up better and later understood that I was one of the rare lobotomy success stories).
[''Long Cri dans la nuit: Cinq Années à l'Asile'', cited i]
Alys Robi
, lamiredegisele.com In 1952, she was released. The same year, she came back on stage at the Casa Loma and the Montmartre, but her efforts were impeded by
taboo
A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...
s about mental problems and she never regained the same level of popularity.
Later years
In the early 1990s, Alys returned into the public eye after the massive success she had with a song written for her by
Alain Morisod ("Laissez-moi encore chanter"). Books,
theses
A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...
,
plays
Play most commonly refers to:
* Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment
* Play (theatre), a work of drama
Play may refer also to:
Computers and technology
* Google Play, a digital content service
* Play Framework, a Java framework
* P ...
and
television series
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...
were written about her. A movie was released in December 2004: ''
Alys Robi: Ma vie en cinémascope'' ("Alys Robi: My Life in Cinemascope"), titled ''Bittersweet Memories'' in English.
Robitaille has published two
autobiographies
An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life.
It is a form of biography.
Definition
The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...
: ''Ma carrière, ma vie'' ("My Career, My Life", 1980) and ''Un long cri dans la nuit: Cinq Années à l'Asile'' ("A Long Cry in the Night: Five Years in the Asylum", 1990). The last autobiography title comes from the song ''Un long cri dans la nuit'', written and composed for Lady Alys by the songwriter
Christine Charbonneau
Christine Charbonneau (18 October 1943 – 29 May 2014) was a French Canadian singer and songwriter. La Presse Canadienne (CP/PC),
Most popular songs
''Du fil des aiguilles et du coton'' recorded by France Castel in 1972 and sung by Céline Dio ...
in 1989.
Several of Robi's songs have been used for commercial ads. Sico, notably, played on the similarity between its
brand name
A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...
and the title of "Tico Tico" to produce a very catchy campaign based on a spoof of the song.
Robitaille died in the
Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont
Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont is a hospital in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, located in the boroughs of Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie and Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. It serves the eastern part of the city and offers 800 beds. It employs 5,000 people ...
, Montreal, at the age of 88, on May 28, 2011.
Discography
* ''Diva'' (2005) (recorded in 1946 at the
CBC)
* ''Laissez-moi encore chanter'' (1989)
Compilations
* ''Alys Robi, Collection QIM'' (2005)
* ''Alys Robi, l'anthologie'' (2004)
* ''La Collection – volume 1 & 2'' (1995)
* ''La Collection – volume 1'' (1995)
* ''Les Succès d'Alys Robi'' (1962, 1995)
References
Further reading
* Beaunoyer, Jean. Fleur d'Alys. Montréal: Leméac, cop. 1994. 254,
p., ill. (ports.).
* Sévigny, Jean-Pierre. ''Sierra Norteña: the Influence of Latin Music on the French-Canadian Popular Song and Dance Scene, Especially as Reflected in the Career of Alys Robi and the Pedagogy of Maurice Lacasse-Morenoff''. Montréal: Productions Juke-Box, 1994. 13 p. ''N.B''. Published text of a paper prepared for, and presented, on 12 March 1994, the conference, ''Popular Music Music & Identity'' (Montréal, Qué., 12–13 March 1994), under the auspices of the Canadian Branch of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robi, Alys
1923 births
2011 deaths
Canadian autobiographers
Canadian women jazz singers
French-language singers of Canada
French Quebecers
Musicians from Quebec City
Lobotomised people
RCA Victor artists
Spanish-language singers of Canada
Women autobiographers
20th-century Canadian women singers
Canadian expatriates in the United States
Canadian expatriates in the United Kingdom