Louis Roméo Beaudry (February 25, 1882 – May 6, 1932) was a

French Canadian French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fren ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

and

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

, who established Éditions Radio and served as the director general of the

Starr Records Starr Records was a record label founded by the Starr Piano Company of Richmond, Indiana. Gennett Records was also owned by Starr Piano. Starr's first discs were vertical-cut records in the mid 1910s based on Edison Records standard found in th ...

company of Canada as a music producer. As a composer Beaudry wrote more than 75 songs which went on to be recorded.

Life and career

Born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, Beaudry grew up primarily in

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

. After finishing his schooling at the Quebec Seminary in 1900, he obtained a job at the

National Bank of Canada The National Bank of Canada (french: Banque Nationale du Canada) is the sixth largest commercial bank in Canada. It is headquartered in Montreal, and has branches in most Canadian provinces and 2.4 million personal clients. National Bank is the ...

. Beaudry soon left that job to become a partner in his father's music store, Willis Piano Company. In 1912 Beaudry obtained a sales representative job with

which required him to move to Montreal. While in Montreal he obtained a job as a music critic for '' La Patrie'' as well. In 1915, the

Columbia Graphophone Company Columbia Graphophone Co. Ltd. was one of the earliest phonograph, gramophone companies in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1917 as an offshoot of the American Columbia Records, Columbia Phonograph Company, it became an independent British-owned ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

requested that Beaudry put them into contact with Québécois artists in the hopes they could obtain

French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...

music for their francophone customers in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

. Beaudry did so, and Jean-Marie Magnan, Joseph-Henri Thibodeau, Hector Pellerin, François-Xavier Mercier, Damase DuBuisson, Alfred Nohcor and Honoré Vaillancourt all recorded with Columbia as a result of these efforts. In 1918, the

Starr Piano Company The Starr Piano Company was an American manufacturer of pianos from the late-1800s to the middle-1900s. Founded by James Starr, the company also made phonographs and records and was the parent company of the jazz label Gennett. History Georg ...

Richmond, Indiana Richmond is a city in eastern Wayne County, Indiana. Bordering the state of Ohio, it is the county seat of Wayne County and is part of the Dayton, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 36,812. Situa ...

set up a Canadian branch named the Starr Company of Canada. Beaudry was hired as the director general of the company on the strength of his existing relationship with the Starr company and his knowledge of music and musicians in Quebec. During that time, he became a close business associate with Herbert Berliner. In 1919, Beaudry awarded the contract for pressing records from Starr's subsidiary

Gennett Records Gennett (pronounced "jennett") was an American record company and label in Richmond, Indiana, United States, which flourished in the 1920s. Gennett produced some of the earliest recordings by Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Bix Beiderbecke, and H ...

for all of Canada to Berliner's Compo pressing factory. In 1920, he founded Starr Phonograph of Quebec which used Berliner's recording studios to record francophone artists under the Gennett label. Berliner formed a new record company in 1921, first called Sun, but quickly renamed

Apex Records Apex Records was a Canadian record label owned by the Compo Company which lasted as late as 1980. Compo established the Apex label in July 1921 in Toronto. It released American recordings from Okeh Records and Gennett Records, among others. It al ...

, which began producing records for the Starr 12000 series in July 1921. Apex began selling records at 65¢ each, and with the same production Starr also sold records at 65¢ each. The other major record sellers in Quebec, Columbia and His Master's Voice, priced their records at 85¢. This competitive pricing scheme led to the Quebec music market being dominated by Starr. Around 1920, Beaudry began a collaboration with J Hervey Germain, who recorded eighteen of Beaudry's songs between 1920 and 1925, including: ''Au revoir Mimi, non pas adieu'' (1920), ''Au printemps ma Lizon'' (1921), ''Nos vieux parents'' (1921), ''Rien qu’un baiser'' (1921), ''Mimi printemps'' (1921), ''N’oubliez pas'' (1922), ''La rose du boulevard'' (1922), ''Le sheik d’Arabie'' (1922), ''Ah! Ce qu’il a le nez gros'' (1923), ''Bonjour ma ninette'' (1923), ''Ma jolie danseuse'' (1923), ''Mon ami m’a volé mon amour'' (1924), ''Printemps d’amour'' (1924), ''Riez un peu et tout ira bien'' (1924), ''Une fille que les hommes oublient'' (1924), ''Il est quelque part mon cœur'' (1925) and ''Je ne veux plus pleurer pour toi'' (1925). Hercule Lavoie began recordings songs written by Beaudry in 1924, recording more than a dozen songs of Beaudry's over the next few years. These included ''L’amour pardonne'' (1924), ''L’amour se souvient'' (1924), ''Berce mon rêve'' (1924), ''Chante rossignol chante'' (1924), ''Dis-le moi'' (1924), ''Hier, aujourd’hui, demain'' (1925), ''Il ne faut pas pleurer pour ça'' (1925), ''J’ai toujours vingt ans'' (1925), ''Mais si tu reviens un jour'' (1925), ''Laisse-moi te dire'' (1926), ''Il fallait des anges au paradis'' (1927), ''Pour quelqu’un qu’on aime'' (1927) and ''Tu prends plaisir à me voir souffrir'' (1927). In 1925, Compo purchased Starr Phonograph of Quebec and Beaudry remained with the company. During this time most of the prominent singers in Quebec appeared on the Starr label. Beaudry's most insightful move may have been supporting Mary Bolduc in spite of the lack of success on her first release, ''Y'a longtemps que je couche par terre''. The sale of Bolduc's records would later be critical to the survival of Starr through the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. In 1927, Beaudry began an association with Georges Beauchemin. Over the next four years, Beauchemin would record more than a dozen songs written by Beaudry. Beauchemin recorded ''Au milieu de la nuit'' (1926), ''Bonjour l’amour'' (1927), ''Ramona'' (1928), ''Un coin de ciel bleu'' (1928), ''À l’ombre des lilas'' (1928), ''Jeannine au temps des lilas'' (1928), ''Mademoiselle Mimi'' (1928), ''Mon Angéline'' (1929), ''Mon château d’Espagne'' (1929), ''Au sommet du monde'' (1929), ''Bonjour mon bel oiseau bleu'' (1929), ''Dis-moi que tu pardonnes'' (1929) and ''J’ai trouvé l’amour'' (1929) by Beaudry. Beaudry died in

Outremont Outremont is an affluent residential borough (''arrondissement'') of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It consists entirely of the former city on the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec. The neighbourhood is inhabited largely by fran ...

of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

on May 6, 1932.

References

External links

Recordings by Georges Beauchemin, which include several songs written by Roméo Beaudry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beaudry, Romeo 1882 births 1932 deaths Canadian composers Canadian record producers French Quebecers Musicians from Montreal Musicians from Quebec City