Marie-Élaine Thibert (born April 18, 1982) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

adult contemporary and pop singer based in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the 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 one of the thirtee ...

. Thibert was first notable for being the runner-up in the first season of

Star Académie ''Star Académie'' is a Canadian reality television series that started in 2003, aimed primarily at the Quebec television audience, featuring an array of young women and men under the age of 30 competing for the title of the next solo singing sensa ...

in 2003, the Quebec singing idol reality show. She is also a two-time Felix-award winner for Best Female Artist in Quebec and one-time Juno-award winner for Best Francophone album in Canada.

Background

Early life

Born in the district of LaSalle in the Montréal region, Thibert started to express interest in music during high school and college. She participated in several competitions and contests some of which she won. Thibert then auditioned for Star Académie in 2003 in which she performed on several occasions one of her favorites songs performed originally by

Jacques Brel Jacques Romain Georges Brel (, ; 8 April 1929 – 9 October 1978) was a Belgian singer and actor who composed and performed literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following—initially in Belgium and France, l ...

. Thibert finished second to

Acadien The Acadians (french: Acadiens , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Most Acadians live in the region of Acadia, as it is the region where the des ...

-born

Wilfred Le Bouthillier Wilfred Le Bouthillier (born May 12, 1978) is an Acadian singer from the town of Tracadie-Sheila, New Brunswick, and the winner of both the 2003 edition of ''Star Académie'', a Quebec reality show for aspiring singers, and the 2021 edition of ''Cha ...

in the show's first season. After Star Académie, Thibert met up several times with her long-time Idol

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...

and once met a duet performance prior to her disc launch.

Music career

Her self-titled debut album was launched a few months after Star Académie in early 2004. 300,000 copies of the album were sold, which easily surpassed the totals of Le Bouthiller's self-titled album and season-two champion

Stéphanie Lapointe Stéphanie Lapointe (born March 26, 1984 in Brossard, Quebec) is a Quebec singer, song writer, television and movie actress and humanitarian activist. She is best known as the winner of the second season of Star Académie. Profile/background Mu ...

's ''Sur le fil'', the latter of which is in a genre similar to Thibert but with a much lighter tone. The success of the album resulted in two Felix award at the

ADISQ ADISQ (french: Association québécoise de l'industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la video; eng, Québec Association for the Recording, Concert and Video Industries, link=yes) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to support the indepen ...

gala later that year. She won the awards for the album with the best sales and best female singer. She won the latter category again in 2005. She also won a

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

for best Francophone Album in Canada for her debut album, ahead of Dany Bédard,

Nicola Ciccone Nicola Ciccone is a Canadian francophone singer-songwriter, novelist and writer of Italian origin. His songs have been mainly in French but also in English, Italian, and Spanish. He has released 13 albums, which have been nominated for many ADI ...

, ''

Canadian Idol ''Canadian Idol'' is a Canadian reality television competition show which aired on CTV, based on the British show ''Pop Idol''. The show was a competition to find the most talented young singer in Canada, and was hosted by Ben Mulroney. Jon Dore ...

'' finalist

Audrey De Montigny Audrey De Montigny (born July 26, 1985) is a Canadian former singer. She placed fourth on the debut season of ''Canadian Idol''. De Montigny was nominated for a 2005 Juno Award for her eponymous debut album. Career Her career began in 2003, ...

and

Les Trois Accords Les Trois Accords is a Canadian rock band from Drummondville, Québec. The band launched its first album, ''Gros Mammouth Album,'' in 2003. Some of the songs from that album, include "''Hawaïenne''", "''Saskatchewan''" and "''Lucille''". Their ...

. She was also nominated for Juno Fan Choice Award in which

Avril Lavigne Avril Ramona Lavigne ( ; born September 27, 1984) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. At age 16, she signed a two-album recording contract with Arista Records. Her debut studio album, ''Let Go (Avril Lavigne album), Let Go'' (2002), is the ...

won ahead of Thibert, Sarah McLachlan, Diana Krall and

Shania Twain Eilleen Regina "Shania" Twain ( , ; née Edwards; born August 28, 1965) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She has sold over 100 million records, making her the best-selling female artist in country music history and one of the best-s ...

. In 2007, Thibert released her second album ''Comme ça'' and as of August 2007, over 100 000 copies were sold. The album was made with the help of collaborators such as Chris de Burgh, Luc de Larochellière,

Michel Rivard Michel Rivard (born September 27, 1951) is a singer-songwriter and musician from Quebec. He was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. His father, , was an actor. Michel began his career at an early age appearing in a Canadian television series (''R ...

and

Paul Piché Paul Piché (born September 5, 1953 in La Minerve, Quebec) is a singer-songwriter, environmentalist, political activist and Quebec sovereigntist. He mostly composes on acoustic guitar, although some of his recent work has had some electronica ...

as well as musical contributions from Marc Dupré,

Marc Déry Marc Déry (born 4 November 1963) a French Canadian singer and guitarist from Quebec. He was a member of the band Zébulon. and also released four albums as a solo artist. Early life Déry was born in Mascouche, Quebec. Career Déry played bas ...

and Daniel Lavoie. In addition, Thibert has released a

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

from a live performance at Montreal's

Bell Centre Bell Centre (), formerly known as Molson Centre (), is a multi-purpose arena located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Opened on March 16, 1996, it is the home arena of the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL), replacing the Montr ...

during her Quebec-wide tour in 2005–2006. The show aired on TV network

TVA The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolina ...

which was the main network of all three ''Star Académie'' seasons from 2003 to 2006. In 2007–2008, she made a second province-wide tour in which most shows were sold out very quickly. Her albums include ''Marie-Élaine Thibert'' (self-titled debut album released in 2004), ''Comme Ça'' (released: April 17, 2007) and ''Un Jour Noël'' (released: October 14, 2008). In March 2019, she was one of 11 singers from Quebec, alongside Ginette Reno, Diane Dufresne, Céline Dion,

Isabelle Boulay Isabelle Boulay, (born 6 July 1972) is a French Canadian singer. Biography Born in Sainte-Félicité, Quebec, where her parents owned a restaurant, Boulay moved to the nearby city of Matane at the start of her adolescence, and studied litera ...

Luce Dufault Luce Dufault (born August 19, 1966 in Orleans, Ontario) is a Canadian singer. She is of French descent. She performed in two musicals from Luc Plamondon, La Légende de Jimmy and Starmania. She recorded a few hits including ''Soirs de scotc ...

Louise Forestier Louise Forestier (born Louise Belhumeur on August 10, 1942) is a Canadian singer, songwriter and actress. Biography Born in Shawinigan, Quebec, Canada, Forestier was trained in acting at the National Theatre School in Montreal, but it was as a s ...

Laurence Jalbert Laurence Jalbert (born Lise Jalbert, 18 August 1959 in Rivière-au-Renard, Quebec) is a pop and rock singer-songwriter from Quebec. Background She began her career with the band Volt in 1985."Quebec singer's struggle pays off". '' Edmonton Jou ...

Catherine Major Catherine Major (born February 18, 1980) is a Canadian pop singer and songwriter from Quebec. She is most noted for her 2011 album ''Le désert des solitudes'', which was a Juno Award nominee for Francophone Album of the Year at the Juno Awards o ...

, Ariane Moffatt and

Marie Denise Pelletier Marie Denise Pelletier (born 3 April 1960) is a francophone Canadian singer. She served as President of Artisti, a copyright collective for music artists operated by Quebec's l'Union des artistes (UDA). Biography While studying literature and ...

, who participated in a

supergroup Supergroup or super group may refer to: * Supergroup (music), a music group formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields * Supergroup (physics), a generalization of groups, used in the study of supersymmetry * Supergroup ...

recording of Renée Claude's 1971 single "Tu trouveras la paix" after Claude's diagnosis with

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

was announced. In 2021, Thibert and Le Bouthillier performed together in the first season of ''

Chanteurs masqués ''Chanteurs Masqués'' is a Canadian French language reality singing competition television series based on the South Korean television series ''King of Mask Singer''. The series premiered on September 19, 2021 at ( EST/EDT) on TVA. The show feat ...

'', the Quebec adaptation of ''

The Masked Singer ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'', as a pair of lovebirds. Although not a couple in real life, they have often collaborated since their shared season of ''Star Académie''. They won the competition.Guillaume Picard
"«Chanteurs masqués»: Marie-Élaine Thibert et Wilfred LeBouthillier triomphent"
''

Le Journal de Montréal ''Le Journal de Montréal'' is a daily French-language tabloid newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Quebec and is also the largest French-language daily newspaper in North America. ...

'', November 28, 2021.

Discography

Studio albums

Filmography

* ''Marie-Elaine en spectacle'' (2006) - DVD

References

External links

Website of Marie-Elaine Thibert

Biography of Marie-Elaine Thibert courtesy of Quebec Info Musique
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thibert, Marie-Elaine Living people Singers from Montreal 1982 births Participants in Canadian reality television series Juno Award for Francophone Album of the Year winners People from LaSalle, Quebec French-language singers of Canada Canadian women pop singers 21st-century Canadian women singers Masked Singer winners