Dan Bigras

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Dan Bigras
25 ans des FrancoFolies - 163.jpg
Dan Bigras, Les FrancoFolies de Montréal
17 June 2013
Background information
Born (1957-12-23) 23 December 1957 (age 66)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Occupation(s) musician, actor
Years active1983–present
Website www.danbigras.com

Dan Bigras (born 23 December 1957) is a francophone rock singer and actor from Canada. He has released a number of albums of rock music, beginning with Ange Animal in 1990.

Contents

He is the spokesman of Refuge des Jeunes de Montréal (meaning Refuge of Montreal's youth), an agency to help homeless and at-risk youth. The organisation produces le show du Refuge each year.

Early life

Bigras was born in Montreal, Quebec. He left home at age 16 and began playing rock music in bars. [1]

Career

Bigras was discovered by rock singer Gerry Boulet in 1983. In 1990 he released his first album, Ange Animal. A year later, his song "Un bateau dans une bouteille" was performed as part of the city of Montreal's 350th anniversary celebration. [2] His second album, Tue-Moi, was nominated for a Félix Award. [3]

Bigras worked as an actor in the 30 Vies television series. [4] He was seen nationally in a pair of CBC miniseries dramas about Canadian biker gangs called The Last Chapter (2002), and The Last Chapter II: The War Continues (2002), as Roots Racine, the impetuous leader of the Montreal chapter of the Triple Sixers, a fictional group loosely based on the Hells Angels. [5] [6] These series were produced in English and French. [7] He was nominated for a Genie Award for Best Achievement in Music - Original Song, "L'Astronaute", for the movie Angel's Rage (La Rage de l'ange). [8]

Bigras was also the director of The Ring Within (Le Ring intérieur), a 2002 documentary film about mixed martial arts. [9] The film was a Genie Award nominee for Best Feature Length Documentary at the 23rd Genie Awards in 2003. [10]

His controversial 2014 album, Le sans visage, received mixed reviews. [11] Bigras toured in Quebec that year in support of the album. [12]

Discography

Filmography

See also

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References

  1. "Photos souvenirs: Dan Bigras". Le Journal de Montreal. Agnès Gaudet, 10 août 2019
  2. "Misic Notes". Lethbridge Herald via Newspaper Archives, 21 May 1992 - Page 42
  3. " Dan Bigras". AllMusic biography by Jason Birchmeier
  4. "Dan Bigras: Balancing Extremes". Words and Music, by Éric Parazelli | 24 October 2014
  5. Ray Conlogue (2 March 2002). "Bilingual on bikes". The Globe and Mail . Toronto. Retrieved 18 July 2020. But The Last Chapter, the $10-million CBC miniseries about biker wars, has a quiet but probably longer-lasting claim to fame. It's the first time a major Canadian miniseries has been filmed two times: once in French and once in English.
  6. "TV Spotlight", by Brian Gorman. Brandon Sun, 1 March 2003 - Page 278
  7. The Last Chapter at CBC Television
  8. "The 2007 Genie nominees". Jam!/Canoe. 9 January 2007. Archived from the original on 11 July 2012. Retrieved 18 May 2009.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  9. John Griffin, "Bigras delivers KO with Le Ring". Montreal Gazette , 1 March 2002.
  10. Gayle MacDonald, "Ararat leads but Egoyan left out". The Globe and Mail , 11 December 2002.
  11. "New music review: Le sans visage, Dan Bigras (Ange Animal)". Montreal Gazette, 23 February 2014
  12. "Dan Bigras, heureux sur scène". Le Journal de Montreal, Catherine Chantal-Boivin 26 février 2014
  13. Christine Ramsay. Making It Like a Man: Canadian Masculinities in Practice . Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press; 7 October 2011. ISBN   978-1-55458-375-1. p. 242.
  14. Thomas Waugh. Romance of Transgression in Canada: Queering Sexualities, Nations, Cinemas . McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP; 2006. ISBN   978-0-7735-7680-3. p. 206.