Patsy Gallant
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Patsy Gallant (born August 15, 1948 in Campbellton, New Brunswick) is a Canadian pop singer and musical theatre actress. Of Acadian heritage, she has recorded and performed in both English and French.
She released her first single in 1967, earning appearances on a number of television variety shows. Later, she performed at Montreal's Place des Arts with Charles Aznavour, followed by her own weekly variety show on SRC. She released her first major French album, Toi l'enfant, in 1971, and followed up the following year with Tout va trop vite and her English debut, Upon My Own. Although her French albums were hits in Quebec, her English album spawned only the minor hit "Get That Ball".
Gallant recorded her 1973 album Power in Nashville, Tennessee with an eye to cracking the American market. Although the album spawned four moderately popular singles ("Save the Last Dance For Me", "Make My Living", "Doctor's Orders" and the title track), it was not a commercial breakthrough.
Her biggest popular success came with her next album, 1976's Are You Ready For Love?, and the disco single "From New York to L.A." (which, in fact, took its melody from Gilles Vigneault's "Mon Pays" and peaked at #6 in the UK charts.) "Sugar Daddy" and the album's title track were also popular hits as well, and helped Gallant win Juno Awards for Best Female Vocalist in 1976 and 1977. She followed up with the French Besoin d'amour in 1977, which included a French rendition of "Sugar Daddy". She also hosted another television variety show, this time on CTV, in 1978 and 1979.
She released the English Will You Give Me Your Love? and the French Et Star in 1978, and had a hit with "Stay Awhile With Me" ("Aime-moi" in French); she also released the English album Patsy! which contained the disco hit "Michel". Gallant subsequently released a bilingual greatest hits package in early 1979, which included a rendition of the original "Mon Pays". The English greatest hits album was re-issued in 1995 on Attic records with new remixes of "From New York to L.A."
With the popular decline of disco, however, her subsequent new albums sold poorly. After her 1984 album Take Another Look, she left the music business, and began playing roles in musical theatre in the late 1980s. She has appeared in productions of Cats, Nunsense, a stage biography of Édith Piaf, and played the role of Stella Spotlight in the French musical, Starmania, for 8 years in the 1990s. Ironically, Luc Plamondon (creator of Starmania), wanted Patsy to play Stella in the original staging in the 70s; due to Patsy's hectic schedule at the time, her managers did not even tell her about Starmania, and the role of Stella Spotlight in the original production went to Diane Dufresne. She also had a brief stint as the stepmother in Cindy, a musical based on Cinderella, also written by Plamondon.
She married and divorced guitarist Dwayne Ford, who has appeared on many of Gallant's records, and even produced her Take Another Look album. The two share a son, Jason.
After living in Paris for 8 years, Gallant returned to Canada in 2005 and released the compilation album Tout va trop vite. The album that has relaunched Gallant's recording career contains a number of her biggest French hits, very early recordings from the 1960s, lost disco songs like "It's Got to Be You", and a new re-recording of "Sugar Daddy". Gallant has done many interviews and appearances to promote the new album and hopes to release an album of new material in both English and French soon. Patsy has most recently done a duet with French rap group Treizième Étage called "Faut pas lâcher." The song appears on the group's latest album.
[edit] Discography
- Toi l'enfant (1971)
- Upon My Own (1972)
- Tout va trop vite (1972)
- Power (1973)
- Are You Ready For Love (1976)
- Besoin D'Amour (1977)
- Will You Give Me Your Love? (1977)
- Patsy! (1978)
- Et Star (1978)
- Greatest Hits / Ses Plus Grands Succès (1979)
- Stranger in the Mirror (1980)
- Amoureuse (1981)
- Take Another Look (1984)
- Tout va Trop Vite (2005)
[edit] JUNO Awards
- 1975 Female Vocalist of the Year (Nomination)
- 1977 Best Selling Single: "From NY to LA" (Nomination)
- 1977 Female Vocalist of the Year (Win)
- 1977 Producer of the Year: "From NY to LA" (Nomination)
- 1978 Best Selling Single: "Sugar Daddy" (Win)
- 1978 Female Vocalist of the Year (Win)
- 1978 Producer of the Year: "Sugar Daddy" (Nomination)
- 1979 Female Vocalist of the Year (Nomination)
- Carlisle Miller nominated for Composer of the Year (1978) for "Sugar Daddy"
- Gilles Vigneault nominated for Composer of the Year (1977) for "From NY to LA"
