Paul Demers

{{Infobox musical artist | honorific_prefix = | name = Paul Demers | honorific_suffix = | image = Paul Demers à La Nuit sur l'étang.JPG | image_size = | landscape =  | alt = | caption = Paul Demers performing at La Nuit sur l'étang in 2013. | background = solo_singer | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name = | alias = | birth_date = {{birth date|1956|3|9}} | birth_place = Gatineau, Quebec | origin = | death_date = {{death date and age|2016|10|29|1956|3|9}} | death_place = Ottawa, Ontario | genre = folk rock | occupation = singer-songwriter | instrument = | years_active = 1979–2016 | label = | associated_acts = | website =

| module = | module2 = | module3 = }} '''Paul Demers''' (March 9, 1956 – October 29, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter.<ref name=anthem>[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/music/singer-paul-demers-wrote-anthem-for-franco-ontarians/article33096867/ "Singer Paul Demers wrote anthem for Franco-Ontarians"]. ''The Globe and Mail'', November 29, 2016.</ref> He was best known for writing the song "Notre Place", which came to be recognized as an anthem of the Franco-Ontarian community.<ref name=ici>[http://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/806215/paul-demers-chanteur-cancer-incurable "Le chanteur Paul Demers mène son ultime combat la tête haute"]. Radio-Canada, October 1, 2016.</ref>

==Background== Born in Gatineau, Quebec,<ref name=anthem/> his family moved to Ottawa, Ontario when he was 16.<ref name=anthem/> He began performing as a musician in adulthood, touring music festivals across Ontario and forming the band Purlaine in 1979.<ref name=anthem/> Following a diagnosis of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in the early 1980s, however, he took several years off from music to undergo cancer treatment.<ref name=anthem/>

=="Notre place"== He came out of retirement in 1986 to write the lyrics to "Notre place", which was originally commissioned for a gala to celebrate the passage of Ontario's 1986 ''French Language Services Act''.<ref name=anthem/> The song came to be adopted as the Franco-Ontarian community's unofficial anthem,<ref name=ici/> and was formally designated as the community's official anthem by the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 2017.<ref>[http://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1019975/notre-place-devient-lhymne-officiel-des-franco-ontariens ''Notre place'' devient l'hymne officiel des Franco-Ontariens]. Ici Radio-Canada, March 2, 2017.</ref><ref>[http://www5.tfo.org/onfr/la-chanson-notre-place-reconnue-hymne-officiel-des-franco-ontariens/ La chanson «Notre Place» reconnue hymne officiel des Franco-Ontariens]. TFO, March 2, 2017.</ref>

Following "Notre place", Demers returned to touring, both as a solo artist and with musicians Robert Paquette and Marcel Aymar in the group Paquette-Aymar-Demers,<ref>[https://www.ledevoir.com/culture/musique/483968/paul-demers-1956-2016-notre-place-nous-l-avons-prise-en-chantant «Notre place», nous l’avons prise en chantant]. ''Le Devoir'', November 5, 2016.</ref> released three albums, and worked as a theatre producer and director.<ref>"Staged reading of new play proves captivating". ''Ottawa Citizen'', April 2, 1990.</ref> A biography of him, by writer Pierre Albert, was published by Éditions Interligne in 1992.<ref>"Engaging biography". ''Ottawa Citizen'', June 27, 1992.</ref>

==Death== Demers was diagnosed with mesothelioma in January 2016.<ref name=ici/> He gave a retrospective interview from his hospital bed to the Ici Radio-Canada Première program ''Grands Lacs Café'' in the fall, prior to his death on October 29.<ref name=ici/>

==Discography== *''Paul Demers'' (1990) *''D’hier à toujours'' (1999) *''Encore une fois'' (2011)

==References== {{Reflist|2}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Demers, Paul}} Category:1956 births Category:2016 deaths Category:Canadian rock singers Category:Canadian folk singer-songwriters Category:Canadian male singer-songwriters Category:French-language Canadian singers Category:Musicians from Gatineau Category:Singers from Ottawa Category:Franco-Ontarian people Category:Canadian theatre directors Category:20th-century Canadian guitarists Category:21st-century Canadian guitarists Category:20th-century Canadian male singers Category:21st-century Canadian male singers Category:20th-century Canadian singer-songwriters Category:21st-century Canadian singer-songwriters