Biography:

Germain Gauthier is a Quebec singer-songwriter , arranger and musician (particularly guitarist) born in Quebec in 1950 and died onAugust 28, 2025.

Early career

Germain Gauthier began his career in the 1960s playing guitar in small rock bands before becoming the regular accompanist for singer Claire Lepage in 1971. In the 1970s, he began composing music for various artists and decided to record his own records. He released a series of 45s between 1974 and 1986, including the songs “Malisa” and “T’en viens-tu” in 1974, “Ch’sais pu quoi faire” and “Ma femme” in 1975, “Mam’zelle Julie” in 1976, “Mascara” in 1983, and his biggest hit, “Boy Needs Girl” in 1986. He also released a 33 rpm album in 1974 simply titled “Germain Gauthier.” But despite a good presence as a singer, it is above all as a composer and musician that he leaves his mark on Quebec song.

With Nicole Martin

Germain Gauthier composed several songs for Nicole Martin , often on texts by Pierre Létourneau or Gilles Valiquette . We remember the great success ” Ne t’en va pas ” released in 1978 on the album of the same name, “Mon homme à moi” in 1979 (extract from the album ” Laisse-moi partir “), “Je veux chanter / Réflexion” in 1980 (long opening of the album ” Laissez-moi chanter “) and several titles from the album ” Une affaire de cœur ” released in 1982, including “Pense à moi”, “Tell him that I love him”, “Sans toi”, “La fille en amour”, “Un jour à la fois” and “Ne viens plus dormir chez moi”.

With Diane Dufresne

Germain Gauthier worked extensively with Diane Dufresne , often on lyrics by lyricist Luc Plamondon . Highlights include several songs from the 1979 album “Strip-tease” (more than half, in fact), including the title song (“Strip-tease”), as well as “J’ai douze ans”, “Alys en cinémascope”, “Une fille funky”, “Cinq à sept” and “Week-end sur la lune”. He later composed her big hit “Oxygène” in 1982, and in the same year, he composed the following songs for her: “Turbulences”, “Partir pour la gloire” and “Seule dans mon linceul”.

For the others…

Gauthier also works with Donald Lautrec (“The Wall Behind the Barn” in 1972), Renée Claude (“A Guy Like You” in 1973 and “That’s How Love Stories Start” in 1975), Pierre Létourneau (“Every Day of the Week” and “On the Other Side of the Fence” in 1974, “Like a Friend” in 1979 and “Full of Love” in 1985), Pierre Létourneau with the participation of Nicole Martin (“When We Don’t Love Each Other Anymore” in 1978), Martine St-Clair (“Son of Superman” and “A Sentimental Man” in 1982), Nanette Workman (“Call Girl” and “Like a Gigolo” in 1982 ), Fabienne Thibeault , Marc Drouin (“Testament of a Lover” and “After School” in 1984, “Vis ta vinaigrette” in 1986), Marie Carmen (“Piaf chantait du rock” in 1988), Joe Bocan (“Repartir à zéro” in 1988) and Roch Voisine (“Avant de partir” in 1989 ), to name just a few. As an arranger and producer, he notably worked on Joe Bocan ‘s first eponymous album (“Repartir à zéro”, “On parle des yeux”, “Déranger”, “Paradoxale”, “Les femmes voilées”…) and the song “Repartir à zéro” won the Grand Prix Radiomutuel in 1990 .

In France , he worked with Luc Plamondon and composed the song “C’est fini le temps des stars” for Magali Noël in 1980 and the song “Mister Orwell” for Petula Clark in 1984.

Some of his melodies were covered by Celine Dion when she paid tribute to lyricist Luc Plamondon on her album ” Dion chante Plamondon ” (1991). Among these are “Oxygène” by Diane Dufresne, “Le fils de Superman” by Martine St-Clair and “Piaf chantait du rock” by Marie Carmen. The same year, Marie Denise Pelletier covered “J’ai douze ans” by Diane Dufresne and incorporated it into her album “Le rendez-vous”.

Germain Gauthier also wrote the original music for the film La Guerre des tuques by director André Melançon in 1984. Two years earlier, he co-wrote the music for the film Scandale by director George Mihalka with Tony Roman .

Germain Gauthier died onAugust 28, 2025[ 1 

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