1976
PHOTO ARCHIVES THE PRESS
Karl Tremblay at the time of the album’s release High massin November 2004
Karl Tremblay was born on October 28, in Montreal.
1994
Jean-François Pauzé and Karl Tremblay met for the first time, without speaking, according to the official biography of Cowboys Fringants. They wrote their first song the following February.
1997
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Karl Tremblay (center) and Jean-François Pauzé (right) actually played cowboys on stage. Even before its first radio success, the group was already performing at the Spectrum in May 2001. A year and a half later, they played in front of 8,000 people at Jarry Park with Plume.
After their participation in an amateur competition presented at the La Ripaille brasserie in Repentigny, Karl Tremblay and Les Cowboys Fringants are already small local stars. Publication of 12 great songs.
2000
The reputation of the Cowboys Fringants continues to grow. After On my couch (1998), the group launched Motel Caprion which we find in particular The company guy, which announces the sociopolitical songs to come. Very popular concert at the Francofolies.
2002
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The Cowboys Fringants (Jean-François Pauzé, Marie-Annick Lépine, Dominique Lebeau, Karl Tremblay and Jérôme Dupras), in December 2002, during their “Montreal tour”
Album release Union break. Autumn song, chosen as the first single after bitter debates, became the group’s first big success. Karl Tremblay shows his tender side and gives a glimpse of the nuanced performer he will become.
2003
On December 30, Les Cowboys Fringants performed at the Bell Center for the first time. The concert is the subject of a DVD. In March 2004, first concert in Paris, at the Élysée-Montmartre.
2004-2007
PHOTO ANDRÉ TREMBLAY, ARCHIVES ANDRÉ TREMBLAY.COM
In December 2006, a few days before concluding a new tour at the Bell Centre, Les Cowboys Fringants performed three evenings in a row at the Grand Théâtre de Québec. The concerts were recorded and gave birth to a double album live published in 2007.
“Cowboymania” is at its height with the publication of High mass, which confirms the group’s ability to connect with an increasingly large and multi-generational audience. At the same time, Karl Tremblay was briefly a video game critic on the show Mr. Clean to the defunct MusiquePlus channel.
2008
After the departure of drummer Dominique Lebeau, the group remained a quartet and released several records over the following decade: Shipping, Only wind And October. Les Cowboys Fringants is no longer the latest novelty, but its popular success continues.
2016
Karl Tremblay becomes a partner in a video game design company, Triple Boris, of which he is creative director and main shareholder.
2019
PHOTO BERNARD BRAULT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Karl Tremblay, Jérôme Dupras and Jean François Pauzé at the MileEx Festival in August 2019
Album release The Antipodes. Great radio success with America cries. The song On my shoulder becomes an anthem that will mark the group’s concerts.
2020
La Tribu, record company and management company of Cowboys Fringants, announces that Karl Tremblay must undergo surgery for hernias. The singer receives, probably as a result of this treatment, a diagnosis of prostate cancer, which he will not make public until the summer of 2022.
2023
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Karl Tremblay at the Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Hot Air Balloon Festival in August 2023
In March, Marie-Annick Lépine announced on Facebook that the cancer treatments that her partner Karl was undergoing were no longer working. The singer received further treatment over the following months and the band was forced to cancel some concerts on their festival tour that summer. July 17, historic concert at the Quebec Summer Festival, extended by a day to allow the group to resume a show canceled a few days earlier due to bad weather.
November 15, 2023
Karl Tremblay died of prostate cancer, leaving to mourn his two daughters, his partner Marie-Annick Lépine, his friends Jean-François Pauzé and Jérôme Dupras, as well as a large part of Quebec.