Information/Write-up
Gabrielle Jeanette Marie Bugeaud, later known in Quebec as Gabrielle Bujold, was born on August 2, 1952, in the Franco-Albertan town of Falher and raised in Edmonton. Encouraged by her mother to sing and study piano, she began performing as a child at l’Académie Assomption, a Catholic French-language school, where she first appeared as a solo vocalist in the school choir and developed her piano skills. By her teens she was performing in French-language theatre and singing with local groups such as the Brinkman Brothers, Déjà-Vu, and the George Blondheim Band, honing a stage presence that would carry her onto much larger platforms.
In 1974, Déjà-Vu gained a breakthrough slot at the Alberta Pavilion during the Spokane World’s Fair, returning for a performance on the International Stage. The exposure helped Gabrielle secure financing for her first solo recording. The following year she released her debut 45, We Stopped Singing Our Song b/w Come Stay Awhile, on Toronto’s Mustard label. Two years later she was back in Edmonton recording Positively Gabrielle at Sundown Recorders, produced by Maurice Fritze and arranged by George Blondheim with a cast of local players including P.J. Perry, Tom Doran, Brian Newcombe, and Barry Allen. With the album in hand she secured her own weekly variety show on CFRN called Love Gabi, which brought her voice into living rooms across Alberta and set her up for national attention.
In 1978 the CBC invited her to host the national variety program Canadian Express, with Tommy Banks as music director. The series presented her as a rare bilingual performer bridging Anglophone and Francophone audiences and underscored her ability to move easily between the pop, jazz, and theatrical traditions of both. Throughout the late 1970s she also toured Western Canada, including Canadian Armed Forces shows in the Middle East and the North, experiences that deepened her connection with audiences far beyond Edmonton.
By the mid-1980s, Gabrielle had weathered personal tragedy with the loss of her husband but soon found renewed energy in the studio. She teamed with Edmonton producer Adrian Chornowol and engineer Rob Hewes to record her second album, Seule à Rêver, which featured contributions from Alain Caron of Uzeb and Ingrid Stitt. Released in 1990 on the Quebec label ISBA with distribution through Select, the album was nominated in three categories at ADISQ and launched a string of francophone singles, including “C’est Bien Toi,” “Private & Confidential,” and “Benjamen,” that found strong reception on Quebec radio. A number of sources recall her breaking into the province’s top ten charts, though these claims remain to be firmly documented. Her presence in Quebec was solidified through appearances on national television, tours in Europe and the Middle East, and a growing recognition as one of the first Alberta artists to gain significant success in the province’s francophone pop market.
Gabrielle carried on through the 1990s and early 2000s as both performer and host, touring with symphony orchestras alongside Tommy Banks and P.J. Perry, appearing on numerous Quebec television specials, and lending her time to telethons and fundraising events for the Montreal Children’s Hospital and La Maison Grise. By 2004 she stepped away from the touring circuit to pursue a new career as a painter of large murals, before eventually returning to Alberta in 2012.
Her story is one of constant reinvention: a Franco-Albertan child singer who became a bilingual performer, television host, and recording artist; an Edmonton star who crossed into the national spotlight with CBC; and later a Quebec pop singer who reached new audiences while bridging Canada’s linguistic divide. Whether remembered as Gabrielle Bugeaud or Gabrielle Bujold, her career embodies the resilience and range of Canadian popular music in the late twentieth century.
-Robert Williston
Written by Garry McDonall (We Stopped Singing Our Song); and Randy Lloyd and Howard Cooper (Come Stay Awhile)
Produced by Garry McDonall
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