Writing the biography of Renée Claude, in the fall of 2019, put musician and composer Michel Robidoux, who died on Sunday at the age of 78, in my path. He had received me at his home, in the country, on his terrace which overlooked a small lake. His blonde Nicole took care of his well-being.
He was very weak. But he still wanted to meet me to tell me about this artist he had loved so much. He was generous. Memories came easily. I listened to it for two hours. A whole life has passed before my eyes.
For many people, the name of Michel Robidoux has little resonance. However, this artist, son of singer Fernand Robidoux and Jeanne Couët, alias Zézette, is one of these shadow giants without whom Quebec culture would not have the same foundations today.
With the 1970s looming on the horizon, undoubtedly the most fertile decade in the history of our music, Michel Robidoux takes part in the crazy adventure of The Osstidcho, with Robert Charlebois, Louise Forestier, Yvon Deschamps and Mouffe.
Charlebois obviously does not miss this remarkable talent. Not crazy, the Garou! He makes him his guitarist on the record Charlebois-Forestier renamed Lindberg. The enfant terrible of Quebec song will do this a few years later by entrusting Robidoux with the music of I dream in Rio.
Then, it is the meeting with Jean-Pierre Ferland. The anecdote is well known: on his return from Europe, the creator of Mistletoe leaves will see The Osstidcho and bursts into tears in Guy Latraverse’s arms, confiding to him that he feels overwhelmed by this go-getter youth.
But Ferland will know how to kick the bottom of the pool with his heel. And who will he turn to to get on the train? Towards the one that everyone is tearing off then. Michel Robidoux signs the music for the songs The little king, When we love we are always 20 years old, Sing Sing and the incomparable The artist’s cafe cat, who made Yellow one of the greatest records of the Francophonie.
At the same time, the talent of a young author exploded. As he elaborates Here you are, I’m coming … with Diane Dufresne and François Cousineau, Luc Plamondon also launches out in the creation of a disc for Renée Claude. The latter wants a new sound. For this performer, Michel Robidoux composes the music of the disc I catch my breath, of which Happiness, La bagomane, You let me down from 7e sky and I was gone not to come back. This adventure takes place at the studio that Bill Gagnon, a great friend of Robidoux, owns in Ville-Émard.
Despite its innumerable qualities, this disc was not, however, a great commercial success.
Renée Claude, Michel Robidoux and Luc Plamondon take their revenge a year later with a new record on which they tackle Tonight i make love with you.
This text, which makes the singer say that she wants to make love and that she takes care to put her cat with the neighbor upstairs so that the latter does not come and scratch her lover’s back, on the deliciously country music of Robidoux, is a real bomb!
The first guitar notes of this song are legendary. “People said of me that I was the king of intros,” the composer told me when we met.
The “Robidoux sound” is found in an impressive number of records and shows, those of Clémence DesRochers (The flamingo’s pink flight), Pierre Létourneau, Nanette Workman, Claude Dubois, Diane Dufresne and many others. Artists know that the presence of this musician elevates their songs.
Michel Robidoux is also the one who signed the arrangements for two Leonard Cohen songs on the album I’m your man. In 2017, my ex-colleague Alain de Repentigny met the guitarist. They talked about this meeting.
“He calls me to ask if I’m interested. A fool in a pocket! I went to his place, and it clicked. We did three songs and he remembered two: I’m your man and Everybody Knows. ”
Michel Robidoux had the genius of being able to make thoughtful music while creating enormous commercial successes. He did this while retaining his DNA.
Those who are part of Generation X (and their parents) know Michel Robidoux without knowing it. He is the project manager (with Pierre F. Brault) of several songs that the characters of Master key (first draft) have sung.
He did not hesitate to tell that several of the famous nursery rhymes were written under the influence of “illegal substances”.
In 2017, Michel Robidoux launched Robidoux Premier, a record where several artists (Catherine Major, Pierre Flynn, Alex Nevsky, Bïa, Daniel Bélanger, Marie-Noël Claveau, etc.) cover some of his songs. Pierre Lapointe and Ariane Moffatt take the lion’s share with The artist’s cafe cat. I beg you, listen to this record. And listen to the original versions.
You will grasp the extent of the immense talent that was this musician who left with complete discretion.