Yves Lapierre is a Canadian composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

, arranger

Arranger

In investment banking, an arranger is a provider of funds in the syndication of a debt. They are entitled to syndicate the loan or bond issue, and may be referred to as the "lead underwriter". This is because this entity bears the risk of being able to sell the underlying securities/debt or the...

, record producer

Record producer

A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

, and singer. He began his career performing and recording with the folk vocal quartet Les Cailloux during the 1960s. In the 1970s and 1980s he was highly active as a composer, arranger, and record producer for a large number of notable Canadian musicians. Some of his best well known songs include Get That Ball, Tout va trop vite, Le Désamour, and Moi, de la tête aux pieds. He also composed music for several Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...

 television dramas; including the Guy Fournier

Guy Fournier

Guy Fournier, CM is a Quebec author, playwright, and screenwriter. He is the twin brother of Claude Fournier and the uncle of Jean-Vincent Fournier....

 TV serials Jamais deux sans toi (1977–80) and L'Or et le papier (1988-9) and Lise Payette

Lise Payette

Lise Payette, is a Quebec politician, feminist, writer and columnist. She was a Parti Québécois minister under the leadership of Premier René Lévesque and National Assembly of Quebec member for the riding of Dorion....

's La Bonne aventure.

Life and career

Born in Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

, Lapierre is the grandnephew of composer Eugène Lapierre

Eugène Lapierre

Eugène Lapierre was a Canadian organist, composer, journalist, writer on music, arts administrator, and music educator. He was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal in 1935 and the King George VI Coronation Medal in 1937...

. A graduate of the École de musique Vincent-d'Indy

École de musique Vincent-d'Indy

Lécole de musique Vincent-d'Indy is a subsidized private music college situated in Montreal in the Outremont district, that specializes in music education.-Programs:...

, he studied conducting and instrumentation with Michel Perrault

Michel Perrault

Michel Brunet Perrault is a Canadian composer, conductor, music educator, and percussionist. As a composer, his work largely pulls on Canadian folk melodies and his compositions avoid modernism in favor of classical ideas of harmony and counterpoint. He described his own work in these words, "I'm...

. He began his career as a founding member of the folk vocal quartet Les Cailloux, which he directed from 1963-1968. During that time the group he toured regularly throughout the Quebec region. They also embarked on an international tour in 1967, giving performances in Europe, Africa and Asia. The ensemble released two LP album

LP album

The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...

s with Pathé Records

Pathé Records

Pathé Records was a France-based international record label and producer of phonographs, active from the 1890s through the 1930s.- Early years :...

 and two LPs with Capitol Records

Capitol Records

Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...

. The other members of the quartet included Jean Fortier, Jean-Pierre Goulet, and Robert Jourdain.

In 1969 Lapierre began working as an arranger for the Montreal Symphony Orchestra

Montreal Symphony Orchestra

Orchestre symphonique de Montréal is a symphony orchestra based in Montréal, Québec, Canada, with Montréal's Place des Arts as its home.-History:...

, making orchestral arrangements of popular music for their summer concert series into the 1970s. He also worked as a composer, arranger, and producer on recordings for a number of Canadian artists during the 1970s and 1980s , including Julie Arel, Johanne Blouin, Édith Butler

Édith Butler

Édith Butler O.C. is an Acadian singer-songwriter and folklorist. Her career began in the early 1960s with performances in Moncton, followed by national appearances on CBC Television's Singalong Jubilee.2003's Madame Butlerfly is her most recent studio recording.-Honours:*Butler was appointed an...

, Robert Charlebois

Robert Charlebois

Robert Charlebois, OC, OQ is a Quebec author, composer, musician, performer and actor. He is an important figure in French language song....

, Renée Claude, Patsy Gallant

Patsy Gallant

Patsy Gallant is a Canadian pop singer and musical theatre actress. Of Acadian ancestry, she has recorded and performed in both English and French.-Successful beginnings in French :...

, Claude Léveillée, Suzanne Stevens

Suzanne Stevens

Suzanne Stevens is a Canadian singer, based in Montreal and active during the 1970s and 1980s. She won the Juno Award for Most Promising Female Vocalist of the Year in 1975...

, and Ginette Reno

Ginette Reno

Ginette Reno, OC, CQ is a French-Canadian author, composer, singer, and actress. She is known by the nickname .Born as Ginette Reynault in Montreal, Quebec, she played the role of Maria Barberini in the independent film Mambo Italiano and played the mother in Léolo.She has recorded in both...

 among others. He notably produced the majority of Jean Lapointe

Jean Lapointe

Jean Lapointe, is a Quebecois actor, comedian and singer as well as a former Canadian Senator.Lapointe began his stage career as part of the duo Les Jérolas performing in such venues as the Ed Sullivan Show and at the Olympia in Paris.He launched his solo career in 1974 and has performed on...

's records. He also worked as a music director for CBC Television

CBC Television

CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...

 in 1976-1977 for the variety programs Monsieur B and L'Heure de pointe. He also worked for the CBC as a composer of film and television score

Film score

A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...

s for movies like Marcel Lefebvre

Marcel Lefebvre

Marcel François Marie Joseph Lefebvre was a French Roman Catholic archbishop. Following a career as an Apostolic Delegate for West Africa and Superior General of the Holy Ghost Fathers, he took the lead in opposing the changes within the Church associated with the Second Vatican Council.In 1970,...

's Mustang (1975) and Alain Chartrand's Ding et Dong. He has devoted most of his time after 1977 to writing jingle

Jingle

A jingle is a short tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. The jingle contains one or more hooks and lyrics that explicitly promote the product being advertised, usually through the use of one or more advertising slogans. Ad buyers use jingles in radio and television...

s for radio and television.