Pierre Garand (born 26 June 1972), known by his stage name Garou (a diminutive of his last name "Garand"), is a Canadian singer and entertainer from

Sherbrooke Sherbrooke ( ; ) is a city in southern Quebec, Canada. It is at the confluence of the Saint-François and Magog rivers in the heart of the Estrie administrative region. Sherbrooke is also the name of a territory equivalent to a regional cou ...

Québec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...

. He is known for his work in the musical Notre-Dame de Paris (playing

Quasimodo Quasimodo (from Quasimodo Sunday) is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the novel '' The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'' (1831) by Victor Hugo. Quasimodo was born with a hunchback and feared by the townspeople as a sort of monster, but ...

in both the original French and English casts) and the No. 1 hits " Belle", "

Seul Simple End User Linux is an advocacy group that promotes Linux programs in education and science. SEUL also hosts numerous free software projects and efforts, such as the WorldForge Project's website. The SEUL/Edu project seeks to further the use ...

", " Sous le vent", and "

La Rivière de notre enfance "La Rivière de notre enfance" is the name of a 2004 song recorded in duet by the Canadian singer Garou and the French artist Michel Sardou. It was released in November 2004 as the third single from Garou's second studio album, ''Reviens'', on whi ...

Profile

Garou was born in Canada. Garou began playing the guitar at the age of three at the encouragement of his father (he also plays piano and trumpet). He went on to serve in the military and started a band in 1992 called the Untouchables. In 1997, he was discovered by

Luc Plamondon Luc Plamondon, OC, CQ (b. March 2, 1942 in Saint-Raymond, Quebec), is a French-Canadian lyricist and music executive. He is best known for his work on the musicals ''Starmania'' and ''Notre-Dame de Paris''. He is the brother of Louis Plamondo ...

while singing American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

tunes in a Sherbrooke bar. He was drafted by Plamondon to play the role of Quasimodo in his musical Notre-Dame de Paris, which made him a star in France and propelled his career into action. He would play the role of Quasimodo for 3 years. His first album ''

'' became the best-selling French album of 2001 and remains one of the best-selling French albums of all time, achieving 2 million sales in Europe and going three times platinum in Canada. He continued his string of hits with a ''

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

'' and his sophomore effort ''

Reviens ''Reviens'' is the second studio album recorded by the Canadian singer Garou, and his third album overall. Released in May 2003, this album was a great success in many countries, including France, Belgium, Switzerland and Poland where it reached ...

'' in 2003. Sales for his third album '' Garou'' remained strong and he released his English crossover ''

Piece of My Soul ''Piece of My Soul'' is the fourth studio album by Canadian singer Garou, and his fifth album overall. After several French albums, this is Garou's first English album. Track listing #"Stand Up" — 3:51 ( Rob Thomas) prod. Peer Åström #"Acc ...

'' in 2008. The album debuted at No. 2 in Canada and No. 3 in France. Despite this, the album became his first album in France not to reach platinum status although it became his best-selling album in North America in seven years. His next album, ''

Gentleman cambrioleur ''Gentleman cambrioleur'' is the fifth studio album by Canadian singer Garou, and his sixth album overall. This is Garou's first cover album, covering songs from artists such as Jacques Dutronc. The title refers to fictional character Arsene Lup ...

'' features cover songs in French and English and became his first album to miss the top five in France, where it modestly peaked at No. 35, staying on the charts for 17 weeks. He released ''Version Intégrale'' in 2010 which became another Top 40 hit in France and Canada. Garou performed the

Jean-Pierre Ferland Jean-Pierre Ferland, (born June 24, 1934, in Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. Life and career Ferland began work with Radio-Canada in 1956 as an accountant, but his career there was short lived. Shortly after, he began ...

song "Un peu plus haut, un peu plus loin" (A Little Higher, A Little Farther) at the 2010 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. He has also performed at the charity event

Les Enfoirés Les Enfoirés (, 'The Tossers' or 'The Bastards') is the name given to the singers and performers in the yearly charity concert for the Restaurants du Cœur The Restaurants du Cœur (literally ''Restaurants of the Heart'' but meaning ''Restau ...

for the past 19 years. In 2011, he was cast as the lead role Zark in the musical

Zarkana ''Zarkana'' was a Cirque du Soleil stage production written and directed by François Girard. It began as a touring show in 2011 and was converted to a resident show in Las Vegas in late 2012. It premiered at Radio City Music Hall in New York ...

Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Ju ...

in New York. His latest effort ''

Rhythm and Blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

'' became his highest-peaking album in four years. It is his second covers album and pays tribute to classic R&B music. Garou (Pierre Garand) - 20090317-01

He hosted the first two editions of ''Destination Eurovision'', the selection show to choose the French entry for the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

, for France 2.

Collaborations

Garou has become well known for his collaborations. He has worked with Luc Plamondon in Notre-dame de Paris. The single " Belle" was lifted from the musical and stayed atop the French charts for a record-breaking 18 weeks. The single remained the most successful song in French history until 2009. In 2000, he had a successful duet with Celine Dion. " Sous le vent" became his third number one single in France. In 2004 he worked with

Michel Sardou Michel Charles Sardou (; born 26 January 1947) is a French singer and occasional actor. He is known not only for his love songs ("La maladie d'amour", "Je vais t'aimer"), but also for songs dealing with various social and political issues, su ...

for his fourth and final No. 1 single, "

". The following year he appeared with 15-year-old singer Marilou on "Tu es comme ça." He has also worked with several popular songwriters, including

Jean-Jacques Goldman Jean-Jacques Goldman (; born 11 October 1951) is a French singer-songwriter and music record producer. He is hugely popular in the French-speaking world. Since the death of Johnny Hallyday in 2017 he has been the highest grossing living French p ...

and

Pascal Obispo Pascal Michel Obispo (; born 8 January 1965) is a French singer-songwriter. Biography Pascal Obispo, son of Max Obispo (a former Bordeaux Girondins football player of Basque origin) and Nicole Guérin (originally from Angers), was born on 8 J ...

. For his first album in English, Garou collaborated with some of the biggest names in music. The single "Stand Up" was written by Rob Thomas. He also sang the song " First Day of My Life", which was a big hit all over Europe in 2006 for former Spice Girl Melanie C, written by

Guy Chambers Guy Antony Chambers (born 12 January 1963) is an English songwriter, musician and record producer, best known for his work with Robbie Williams. Education Chambers attended Quarry Bank Comprehensive School sixth form in Liverpool. From 18, h ...

and Enrique Iglesias.

Personal life

Born in the town of Sherbrooke, Quebec, Pierre "Garou" Garand was exposed to music from an early age. He began to learn guitar at the age of three and soon pursued other instruments; such as trumpet, piano and the organ. Garou has a daughter, Emelie (born July 7, 2001), with his ex-girlfriend, Ulrika, a former model. After they broke up he dated a former Yemeni singer and entertainer Arwa Jassem known as Lahlouba. From 2007 to June 2010 he dated French singer Lorie. Garou is a member of the

charity ensemble since 1999."Garou"
(in French). ''Enfoires.com''. Retrieved 23 February 2017.

Discography

* ''

'' (2000) * ''

'' (2003) * '' Garou'' (2006) * ''

'' (2008) * ''

'' (2009) * '' Version intégrale'' (2010) * ''

'' (2012) * '' Au milieu de ma vie'' (2013) * '' It's Magic (France) / Xmas Blues (Canada)'' (2014) * ''

Soul City In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

'' (2019) * ''Garou joue Dassin'' (2022)

References

External links

*
Biography of Garou
from

Radio France Internationale Radio France Internationale, usually referred to as RFI, is the state-owned international radio broadcaster of France. With 37.2 million listeners in 2014, it is one of the most-listened-to international radio stations in the world, along with ...