Patsy Gallant

Gallant, Patsy

Patsy (Adrienne) Gallant. Popular singer, actress, songwriter, b Campbellton, NB, 15 Aug 1948. One of 10 children, at five Patsy Gallant was part of The Gallant Sisters with older siblings Angeline, Florine, and Ghislaine. At eight Patsy gained television exposure after her parents moved to Moncton; two years later the group was playing nightclubs in Montreal. She left the group for a solo career in 1967, was featured in commercials, and was a regular on both the French-language TV variety program "Discothèque" and its English equivalent, "Music Hop."

Gallant contracted with Columbia Records in 1970, releasing albums in both French and English. A tiny, vivacious performer with a strong voice, Gallant became one of the few Canadian artists to become a star during the disco era of the mid-1970s. Publicized as Canada's Queen of Disco, Gallant hosted an eponymous TV variety show on CTV for two seasons. Subsequent recordings resulted in declining sales and she left the music business for several years. In 1988 she re-emerged in musical theatre, performing in productions of Cats, Nunsence and Piaf. Moving to France in 1997, she played Stella Spotlight in Starmania for eight years. She returned to Canada in 2005.

Recordings
Under contract to Columbia Records Gallant released Toi l'enfant (1971) and Tout va trop vite (1972) in French, and Upon My Own (1972) and Power (1973) in English. Her biggest hit from this period was "Get That Ball." "Save the Last Dance for Me," "Make My Living" and "Doctor's Orders" from the country-tinged Power, recorded in Nashville, sold well in Canada but failed to win a US audience. An up-tempo French-language version of Gilles Vigneault's "Mon Pays" recorded for Kébec-Disc attracted the attention of Toronto-based Attic Records, which re-recorded the song with new English lyrics as "From New York to L.A." Gallant's recording "Sugar Daddy" was also released to both English and French markets, the latter on the album Besoin d'amour (1977). She continued this pattern with Will You Give Me Your Love? (1978) and Et Star (1978), which both yielded the single "Stay Awhile With Me"/"Aime-moi." Stranger in the Mirror (1980) and Amoureuse (1981) found only limited success within Quebec, and she ended this phase of her recording career with "Take Another Look" (1984).

After returning from her long run in Starmania, she released a career retrospective, Tout va trop vite, which included early recordings and a remake of "Sugar Daddy."

Awards; Memberships
Patsy Gallant won Juno awards for female vocalist of the year in 1977 and 1978, and best-selling single ("Sugar Daddy") in 1978. She is a SOCAN affiliate.