(Toronto) Quebecois Diane Tell, Sarah McLachlan, Tom Cochrane as well as Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor, of the group Blue Rodeo, were inducted into the Canadian Authors and Composers Hall of Fame during a ceremony presented at Massey Hall, in Toronto, Saturday.
The Quebec singer La Zara, who represented France in the Eurovision contest in 2023, also participated in the evening hosted by Marie-Mai. She was one of the artists who honored Quebec singer Diane Tell by performing her 1981 classic If I were a man.
In accepting this distinction, Diane Tell recalled that she had written around fifty songs when she was barely a teenager and that she sang them “for everyone who would listen”.
PHOTO PAIGE TAYLOR WHITE, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Diane Tell accepts her award during the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
She said that songwriting was invaluable in her life and that the words she wrote were so important to her that, even in her early days, she felt “an urge to own my music and protect it from the industry “.
“These songs are my anchor,” she added.
All the famous tunes of the inducted artists punctuated the evening. Sam Roberts, Metric and Lights, in particular, offered performances.