Jacques Michel draws a line on touring life. At 80 years old, the renowned singer-songwriter does not give up the stage, but he does not want to stay away for long from his little corner of paradise on Île d’Orléans, from where he can. every day admire the majestic St. Lawrence River.
The artist has signed more than 200 pieces since the beginning of his career in 1963, including the much requested “No need to strike”, “A new day will rise” and “Bring you home”. And just before the pandemic, he launched the album “Hold”, his 19th, at Audiogram.
It is a bouquet made of his great hits and his new songs that he delivers to his loyal admirers as part of his last tour, which will stop this Sunday at the Gesù, in Montreal, and which will end in Grand Théâtre de Québec, January 15, 2022.
“I do several of my great hits, whose agreements I changed, I had cosmetic surgery on them and I managed to remove some wrinkles,” he told the QMI Agency with a glow. laughing.
“I give more room to the emotion, whereas before, it was the rhythm which dominated the songs. A song is like a house: we have to redo the paint, we can give our walls other colors. ”
He also says he’s more talkative on stage, telling himself more than in his prime. “I was not embarrassed at the start of my career, I was stuck,” he said.
“I’m still as a perfectionist as I could be, but I’m more confident, I trust myself more. If something goes wrong, I grab that thing and take advantage of it. I’m going to turn this into something funny. ”
Continue writing
Jacques Michel also continues to write, a passion that does not run out of steam. “I have new songs that are not yet recorded, others in the works. Either I’ll save them or I’ll give them away. “
The artist says that in a world in perpetual evolution, “it is obvious that we still have things to say, our life changes, our friendships and marital relationships change, a love that is passionate can become filled with tenderness”.
This was not to be Jacques Michel’s last tour, but the two years lost due to the pandemic have meant that he now no longer wishes to pack his big suitcases.
“If I’m asked to do a few songs, I probably won’t say no. I am in perfect shape, in good health. My voice is impeccable, the energy is there too, ”he said.
Adventure and work-study
Jacques Michel returned to the spotlight in 2015, after a hiatus that lasted more than 30 years. He has not been idle in the meantime, having signed a hundred songs for “The Village of Nathalie” and created the children’s show “On the street Tabaga”. He also traveled the seas on his sailboat, thus nourishing his thirst for adventure.
When he left the scene in the early 1980s, “Quebec song was in a hollow,” he said, and he wanted to do something else. “It was getting routine and I don’t like routine.”
But six years ago he wanted to return to his first love. “Alternation, in life, is something good. I have rotated all my life. I alternated between my pied-à-terre in Montreal and my property in North Hatley. Afterwards, I alternated between my boat and my property on Île d’Orléans, where I am now. And there, I alternate between the wooded area in Abitibi that I acquired 2-3 years ago and my residence here on Île d’Orléans. It keeps going from one universe to another alive. “
Regarding the wooded area near the lake that he made his own in the area where his father had his lumberjack trails, near Rouyn-Noranda, Jacques Michel says he “found trees that took root in this soil at the same time. than me. They are my age ”.