The Quebec showbiz community is in mourning. Producer Jean-Claude Lespérance died on August 13. His family announced it Tuesday morning, without specifying the cause of his death. He was 79 years old.
“A pioneer, visionary and leading figure in the entertainment, comedy and television industry in Quebec, Jean-Claude was a very discreet man who knew how to surround himself with talented, supportive and loyal collaborators. He explored, took risks and invested, giving full meaning to the profession of producer,” his family recalled in a press release.
Mentor of several young producers in the industry, Jean-Claude Lespérance was the largest producer of shows in Quebec in the 1980s and 1990s. With his partner and associate Louise Claude, he created the show production company Avanti Plus. A company that has produced more than 700 shows on stage!
The businessman has dabbled in all the performing arts; music (with Céline Dion, Roch Voisine, Lara Fabian), theatre (Brew, The Depression, Houndstooth, Starmania) ; humor and variety (Ding and DongAndré-Philippe Gagnon, Ha! Ha! MondaysStéphane Rousseau, Michel Barrette and Jean Lapointe). He also managed the careers of several Quebec artists, including Dominique Michel and Patrice L’Écuyer.
Of The little life has A guy, a girl
In 1989, with the late Jean Bissonnette, Jean-Claude Lespérance founded the production company Avanti Ciné-Vidéo, one of the most important Canadian television companies. Their successes include A guy, a girl, Lie detectors, Hot pepper, Me and the other, Catherine and, of course, The little lifea program which, when it aired on March 20, 1995, set a record in Canada with 4,098,000 viewers.
Besides his wife and partner, the producer is survived by his son Guillaume Lespérance, also a producer (among others of Everyone is talking about it), without forgetting his friends and the large artistic family in Quebec.