René Simard is a French-Canadian pop singer born in Chicoutimi, Quebec, on February 28, 1961. He began his career as a child star in the 1970s and quickly captured the hearts of audiences across Canada with his impressive vocal abilities and boyish charisma. In 1971, he made his official debut with the album L'Oiseau, which was certified platinum in Canada after selling 175,000 copies. This success was followed by his acting debut on Denix Héroux's Un enfant comme les autres in 1972. In 1974, he represented Canada at the Annual Tokyo Music Festival, winning the Frank Sinatra Award and subsequently kicking off a successful career in Japan. Over the following years, he made several appearances on American prime-time television alongside Bing Crosby, Andy Williams, and Liza Minnelli, and hosted The René Simard Show from 1977 to 1979. During this time, he also recorded several hit albums with his sister Nathalie, including 20 Souvenirs de Noël : René et Nathalie (1982), Sur la Page (1983), and Joyeuses Fêtes (1984), while also cutting a few hit records of his own with Comment ça va (1984), and Et tu danses avec lui (1985). Throughout the 1990s, René Simard devoted himself to musical comedy, making his debut in 1997 on Vincent de Tourdonnet and Peter Sipos' Jeanne la Pucelle. In 2014, René Simard was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada thanks to his multiple contributions to Quebecois culture. He would resume his musical endeavors in 2015 with Nouveau Rêve, which was followed by Condor in 2021.
