Daniel Bélanger

Daniel Bélanger (born December 26, 1961) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. His music is eclectic, inspired by alternative rock, folk and electronic music, sometimes humorous, sometimes wistful.

Daniel Bélanger
Daniel Bélanger on stage in Montreal, April 2, 2007.
Background information
Born	(1961-12-26) December 26, 1961 (age 61) Montreal, Quebec
Genres	Pop-rock
Occupation(s)	Singer, songwriter, musician, artist
Instrument(s)	Guitar, piano, melodica, saxophone, flute
Years active	1990–present
Labels	Audiogram
Website	http://www.danielbelanger.com

Biography

In 1983, Bélanger founded the band Humphrey Salade with Norman Lachance, Eric Maier and Jean Gauvin. Unfortunately, timing was not right and the band never recorded.

His first solo album released in 1992, Les Insomniaques s'amusent has sold 175,000 copies and won the Félix for best pop-rock album. The first single released Opium was number one in Quebec for seven weeks and won the Félix for Videoclip of the Year. This first album also earned him the ADISQ awards for Bestselling Album of the Year, Male Performer of the Year and Show of the Year in 1994.

In 1996, Quatre saisons dans le désordre was released. The album was a critical and popular success, winning the (Félix for the Pop-Rock Album, Singer-Songwriter and Show of the Year, in the singer-songwriter category). The album was certified Platinum and titles like Les deux printemps, Sortez-moi de moi and Les Temps fous (Félix for Videoclip of the Year) topped the charts.

1998: Daniel Bélanger toured as a solo artist honing his skills as a musical performer who enhanced his act with amusing stories and anecdotes; this led to the recording of an unusual album, Tricycle (1999), featuring excerpts from performances recorded at different points in his career.

2000: Daniel Bélanger released Erreur d’impression, a collection of 150 whimsical stories and reflections. He founded the publishing house Coronet liv. He continued to take part in major shows, including the opening concert of the 12th FrancoFolies de Montréal.

In October 2001, Bélanger released Rêver mieux. The album was an immediate success, winning (seven ADISQ awards in 2002, including Pop-Rock Album of the Year, and the following year, the ADISQ award for Videoclip of the Year for Dans un Spoutnik, the Juno Award for Francophone Album of the Year and was certified platinum.

Bélanger has also made achieved critical acclaim for the music he has written for films. he was nominated for a Genie Award for Best Original Song for the movie theme Le Dernier souffle in 2000; Jutra for Best Music for L’Audition in 2006).

L'Échec du matériel, released in April 2007, is an album just as poetic and melodious as Rêver mieux, but more rooted in the concerns and aspirations of his contemporaries.

Belanger won the 2008 Juno Award for Francophone Album of the Year for L'Échec du matériel. In November 2009, he released his album Nous and, once again, won the Félix for the Pop-Rock Album in 2010.

In 2010 he wrote the music for the French musical Les Belles-Soeurs and its 2014 English adaptation, Belles Soeurs: The musical.

In 2018 his album Paloma was named Francophone album of the year at the Juno Awards.^[1]

In 2020 he appeared as a guest vocalist on "Signal", a track on electronic musician CRi's album Juvenile.^[2] In the same year he released Travelling, an album of instrumental music inspired by film soundtracks.^[3] This release gave him the prize of best instrumental album of the year at the ADISQ Gala^[4]

His 2022 album Mercure en mai was a Juno nominee for Francophone Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2023.^[5]

Discography

Title	Details	Peak chart positions
		CAN ^[6]
Les Insomniaques s'amusent	Release date: June 1992 Formats: CD	—
Quatre saisons dans le désordre	Release date: May 12, 1996 Formats: CD	86
Tricycle	Release date: June 1999 Formats: CD	—
Rêver mieux	Release date: October 16, 2001 Formats: CD	—
Déflaboxe	Release date: November 19, 2003 Formats: CD	—
L'Échec du matériel	Release date: April 4, 2007 Formats: CD, digital download	2
Joli chaos	Release date: November 25, 2008 Formats: CD, digital download	20
Nous	Release date: November 10, 2009 Formats: CD	5
Chic de ville	Release date: March 5, 2013 Formats: CD	2
Paloma	Release date: November 25, 2016 Formats: CD, digital download	8
Travelling	Release date: October 2, 2020 Formats: CD, digital download	17
Mercure en mai	Release date: October 14, 2022 Formats: CD, digital download	4
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Videography

• Ensorcelée (1992)
• Les temps fous (1992)
• Le parapluie (1996)
• Chante encore (2002)
• Spoutnik (2002)
• Reste (2009)

References

1. "Junos 2018: the complete list of winners" October 7, 2019, at the Wayback Machine. CBC News, · March 25, 2018
2. "CRi lance Juvenile, un premier album 100 % québécois" November 2, 2020, at the Wayback Machine. Ici Radio-Canada, October 17, 2020.
3. André Péloquin, "Daniel Bélanger fait son cinéma" April 20, 2021, at the Wayback Machine. Le Journal de Montréal, October 3, 2020.
4. ADISQ Gala, [1] May 19, 2022, at the Wayback Machine. Palmares ADISQl.
5. "Here are all the 2023 Juno nominees" February 10, 2023, at the Wayback Machine. CBC Music, January 31, 2023.
6. Canadian peaks May 17, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
   • Paloma: "On The Charts...This Week". FYIMusicNews. December 5, 2016. from the original on March 25, 2019. Retrieved December 5, 2016.
   • Travelling: "Bon Jovi Trails Daniel Belanger On This Week's Albums Chart" April 20, 2021, at the Wayback Machine. FYI Music News, October 12, 2020.
   • Mercure en mai: "Billboard Canadian Albums: Week of October 29, 2022". Billboard. Retrieved October 25, 2022.