Daniel Bélanger (born December 26, 1961) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. His music is eclectic, inspired by

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

and

electronic music Electronic music is a Music genre, genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or electronics, circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromech ...

, sometimes humorous, sometimes wistful.

Biography

In middle 1983, he founded the band Humphrey Salade with Norman Lachance, Eric Maier and Jean Gauvin. Unfortunately, timing was not right and the band never recorded. His first solo album released in 1992, ''Les Insomniaques s'amusent'' has sold 175,000 copies and won the Félix for best pop-rock album. The first single released ''Opium'' was number one in Quebec for seven weeks and won the Félix for Videoclip of the Year. This first album also earned him 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 indep ...

awards for Bestselling Album of the Year, Male Performer of the Year and Show of the Year in 1994. With this debut album, Bélanger had carved out his own special place in the hearts of Quebecers. In 1996, ''Quatre saisons dans le désordre'' was released. Awards flooded in ( Félix for the Pop-Rock Album, Singer-Songwriter and Show of the Year, in the singer-songwriter category), sales went wild (the album was certified Platinum), and titles like ''Les deux printemps'', ''Sortez-moi de moi'' and ''Les Temps fous'' ( Félix for Videoclip of the Year) topped the charts. 1998: Daniel Bélanger toured, revealing an artist able to inhabit the whole stage performing solo, with music and comic monologues; this led to the recording of an unusual album, ''

Tricycle A tricycle, sometimes abbreviated to trike, is a human-powered (or gasoline or electric motor powered or assisted, or gravity powered) three-wheeled vehicle. Some tricycles, such as cycle rickshaws (for passenger transport) and freight trikes ...

'' (1999), featuring excerpts from performances recorded at different points in his career. 2000: Daniel Bélanger thrilled his fans with ''Erreur d’impression'', a collection of 150 whimsical stories and reflections bordering on the absurd, and founded the publishing house ''Coronet liv''. He continued to take part in major shows, including the opening concert of the 12th FrancoFolies de Montréal, featuring legendary singers from three generations: Jean-Pierre Ferland, Michel Rivard and himself. With the album ''

Rêver mieux ''Rêver mieux'' is the third studio album by Québécois singer and musician Daniel Bélanger."Electrifying changes: Belanger goes from folkie to high tech on his new album, Rever Mieux". ''Montreal Gazette'', November 19, 2001. It was his firs ...

'' (certified Platinum) released in October 2001, Bélanger employed electro sounds with playful inspiration and wowed his fans. ''

'' was showered with tributes (seven

awards in 2002, including Pop-Rock Album of the Year, and the following year, the

award for Videoclip of the Year for ''Dans un Spoutnik'', the

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 o ...

for Francophone Album of the Year, and various other distinctions). Daniel Bélanger has also made successful inroads into the world of film music (nomination for the

Genie Award The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for sc ...

for Best Original Song for the movie theme '' Le Dernier souffle'' in 2000; Jutra for Best Music for ''L’Audition'' in 2006). '' L'Échec du matériel'', in stores April 2007, is an album just as poetic and melodious as ''

'', but more rooted in the concerns and aspirations of his contemporaries. Belanger won the 2008

for Francophone Album of the Year for '' L'Échec du matériel''. In November 2009, he released his album ''

Nous ''Nous'', or Greek νοῦς (, ), sometimes equated to intellect or intelligence, is a concept from classical philosophy for the faculty of the human mind necessary for understanding what is true or real. Alternative English terms used i ...

'' and, once again, won the Félix for the Pop-Rock Album in 2010. In 2010 he wrote the music for the French musical '' Les Belles-Soeurs'' and its 2014 English adaptation, '' Belles Soeurs: The musical''. In 2018 his album ''Paloma'' was named Francophone album of the year at the Juno Awards. In 2020 he appeared as a guest vocalist on "Signal", a track on electronic musician CRi's album ''Juvenile''. In the same year he released ''Travelling'', an album of instrumental music inspired by film soundtracks. This release gave him the prize of best instrumental album of the year at the ADISQ GalaADISQ Gala

'' Palmares ADISQl''.

Discography

Videography

* ''Ensorcelée'' (1992) * ''Les temps fous'' (1992) * ''Le parapluie'' (1996) * ''Chante encore'' (2002) * ''Spoutnik'' (2002) * ''Reste'' (2009)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Belanger, Daniel 1961 births Singers from Montreal Canadian singer-songwriters Canadian pop singers French-language singers of Canada Juno Award for Francophone Album of the Year winners Living people Audiogram (label) artists 20th-century Canadian male singers 21st-century Canadian male singers Félix Award winners Canadian male singer-songwriters