They were idols who spread hysteria wherever they went. At the beginning of the 1990s, Quebec was experiencing BBmania. Women’s hearts only beat for Patrick Bourgeois, François Jean and Alain Lapointe. The BBs were big.
• Read also: The madness of BB back on stage through Ludovick Bourgeois
Big how?
“They were like the Beatles,” says Nick Carbone, director of the Isba record company, which recorded BB songs.
“It was crazy,” says the director of several of their music videos, Alain DesRochers.
“When they left a square, the bodyguards were on a mission. No matter what happens, we charge forward, a bit like what happened with the Backstreet Boys or Duran Duran,” gives the example of Mike Gauthier, who knew them as a radio host and VJ at Musique Plus.
“The Imaginary Knight”
In interview with The newspaperAlain Lapointe, sole survivor of the famous trio, tells astonishing stories about the popularity of BB.
Tie on your hat, it’s amazing.
“We made appearances in shopping centers to sign albums,” remembers the group’s multi-instrumentalist. There were so many people. The girls wanted to cut our hair with scissors. It was clear that there were firefighters, police and security people protecting us. Little girls fell unconscious. When we left, we always had a security circuit which avoided people.
“In Saint-Damase,” he continues, “around 2,000 people lived there. When we went to give a show, there were 15,000 people there.”
With their long hair typical of the era and their devastating smiles, the three BBs made Quebecers dream.
“Pat had crazy charisma. He was the imaginary knight of all women”, image Alain Lapointe.
“The three of us together had a lot of chemistry,” he continues, his tone nostalgic. “We were really sex symbols.”
Indecent proposals
From fantasy to reality, there is a step that many admirers have done everything to take. In the pockets and pockets of letters that the group received every week (reminder for those under 30, there was no internet or social networks to communicate with their idols at the time), the proposals were sometimes indecent and the content… explicit.
Alain Lapointe, still amazed three decades later: “Listen… there were photos. The girls were all naked. With invitations, phone numbers and everything you want. They were unleashed. It was crazy.”
After the concerts, during the autograph sessions, they were just as insistent. “They gave us a letter, also with a naked photo and it said: ‘it will only be for once, for one evening’”, he says, remembering rock and roll parties in hotels, “ like in the movies”.
BB Career Highlights
The members
Patrick Bourgeois: voice, guitar, bass
Alain Lapointe: keyboards, guitar, bass, vocals
François Jean: drums
The albums
Les BB (1989): double platinum – 200,000 copies
Snob (1991): platinum – 100,000 copies
3 (1994): gold – 50,000 copies
Easy Happiness (2004)
Universe (2011)
Music videos
Loulou
Be careful
Scent of the past
You are in the moon
Snob
Give me my chance
Alone in battle
You’ll never know
I stretch my arms
Something else
Last word
Prices at ADISQ
1990: Group of the year, Rock LP, Pop-rock show
1992: Group of the year