Born: 1953, Montréal
Debut: 1986
Genre: Pop
Biggest Hits
With Corbeau:
Fou
Visionnaire
Dernier cri
J’lâche pas
Illégal
As a Soloist:
Touch Me
Chats sauvages
Doux
Les yeux du cœur (with Offenbach’s Gerry Boulet)
Je sais, je sais
Y’a des matins
Bohémienne
Albums
1986: Celle qui va
1990: Tant qu’il y aura des enfants
1995: Bohémienne
1998: Bootleg Blues
2001: Sans retour
2005: Turquoise
One day we must study the influence that Marjo had on a whole generation of singers. There is not one, whether it be Marie Carmen, Maude, or Francine Raymond, who does not pay tribute to her. She opened the way by writing her own lyrics – inspired by what she was living – and by performing them with her guts, her integrity…
—Marie-Christine Blais
Marjolène Morin, commonly referred to as simply Marjo, started out as a model, became fashion editor for the magazine Madame,and manager of Montreal jazz bar L’Air du temps. In the 1970s, she served as chorister in François Guy’s musical comedieis Tout chaud, tout show and L’Île en ville. In 1979, she joined the Felix award-winning rock band Corbeau as lead singer. The band gave hundreds of concerts around the province. “Illégal” was perhaps their best-known song. The group disbanded in 1984 and Marjo began a solo career.
She was guaranteed success right from the start as her “Touch Me”, theme song of the film La Femme de l’hôtel, won a Genie award. She teamed up with guitarist and composer Jean Millaire and they wrote some 40 songs together. Her debut album Celle qui viola, released in 1986, sold a quarter million copies and its song “Les Chats sauvages”, arguably one of the best Canadian songs of the decade, nabbed the coveted Felix award for Song of the Year and among winning several other awards that year, she was named Female Artist of the Year. She matched this success in 1990 with her second Song of the Year award, for “Je sais, je sais”.
Marjo has often been called Québec’s answer to France’s Édith Piaf and The United States’ Marilyn Monroe.
