Jean Lapointe, singer, actor, rehab founder and Canadian senator, passes at 86

MERCI BEAUCOUP MONSIEUR LAPOINTE –

Nov. 18, 2022 – Jean Lapointe, the beloved Quebec singer, actor and comedian who was later appointed to the Senate, has died at age 86.

The foundation he created announced Friday his death from health complications at a Montreal palliative care home, surrounded by loved ones.

Born in Price, a village in the Lower St-Lawrence region, Lapointe began his career as a teenager at a Quebec City radio station.

In 1955, he founded the Jerolas with Jerome Lemay. The popular duo mixed music, humour and imitations, leading them to performances on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1963 and at the famed Olympia in Paris. The Jerolas disbanded in 1974 as Lapointe and Lemay embarked on solo careers.

Lapointe enjoyed success on his own in music as well as comedy throughout the 1970s and 1980s, stringing together such hits as Chante-la ta chanson, Tu jongles avec ma vie and Si on chantait ensemble. In 1981, he won the Felix, a Quebec music award, for concert of the year.