Martin Stevens is the stage name of Roger Prud'homme (born October 3, 1953), 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 ...

pop singer prominent in the

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...

era. He is most noted as a two-time

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 ...

nominee for Best Selling Single, receiving nominations at the

Juno Awards of 1979 The Juno Awards of 1979, representing Canadian music industry achievements of the previous year, were awarded on 21 March 1979 in Toronto at a ceremony hosted by Burton Cummings at the Harbour Castle Hilton Convention Centre.LeBlance (2010), p. ...

for " Love Is in the Air" and at the

Juno Awards of 1980 The Juno Awards of 1980, representing Canadian music industry achievements of the previous year, were awarded on 2 April 1980 in Toronto at a ceremony hosted by Burton Cummings at the Harbour Castle Hilton.Krewen (2010), p. 38. CBC Television b ...

for "Midnight Music".

Career

francophone French became an international language in the Middle Ages, when the power of the Kingdom of France made it the second international language, alongside Latin. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the l ...

from

Verdun Verdun (, , , ; official name before 1970 ''Verdun-sur-Meuse'') is a large city in the Meuse department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department. Verdun is the biggest city in Meuse, although the capital ...

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 ...

, he recorded a number of French-language singles in the 1970s, including "J’aime la musique (Comme un fou)" and "Sans ton amour". His self-titled debut album, released in 1978, consisted entirely of French material except for his cover of

Vanda & Young Vanda & Young were an Australian songwriting and producing duo composed of Harry Vanda and George Young. They performed as members of 1960s Australian rock group the Easybeats where Vanda was their lead guitarist and backing singer and Young wa ...

's "Love Is in the Air". His version of the song debuted on the Canadian charts in July 1978, and had already reached #21 by September 9, the week the more internationally familiar version by

John Paul Young John Inglis Young, OAM (born 21 June 1950), known professionally as John Paul Young, is a Scottish-born Australian pop singer who had his 1978 worldwide hit with " Love Is in the Air". His career was boosted by regular appearances as a perfor ...

debuted. The two versions appear to have cut into each other's chart performance; Stevens' version immediately stalled, peaking only at #19 a few weeks later before beginning to decline, while Young's peaked at #26 two weeks later. Stevens' second album, ''Midnight Music'', was released in 1979 and consisted entirely of English-language songs. The title track was a hit in Quebec, but did not perform strongly on the English Canadian charts. Stevens was a

Prix Félix Prix was an American power pop band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1975 by Tommy Hoehn and Jon Tiven. The group ended up primarily as a studio project. Its recordings were produced by Tiven along with former Big Star member Chris Bell, who als ...

finalist for Male Artist of the Year in 1979, but did not win. Stevens published an autobiography, ''Sexe, drogue et disco'', in 2007."La comédie humaine"
'' Métro'', April 7, 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, Martin 1953 births Canadian pop singers Canadian male singers Canadian disco musicians Singers from Montreal People from Verdun, Quebec French-language singers of Canada French Quebecers Living people