Quebec music legend Serge Fiori dies at 73

Legendary Quebec musician and Harmonium frontman Serge Fiori has died at the age of 73 on Saint-Jean Baptiste Day.

Serge Fiori, the singer and songwriter best known as the co-founder of the band Harmonium passed away yesterday at age 73.

He was one of Quebec music’s most influential figure during the 1970s.

He was found in his home in Lac St-Jean, and his friends say he was sick of late and had heart problems. But his sudden passing came as a surprise to the people close to him.

“I didn’t expect that I’d die so fast. I was talking to him three, two nights ago. He was like, okay, he was sick for sure” says Louis Valois, the co-founder of Harmonium in the early 1970s.

The news shook Quebec as it celebrated the Fête Nationale, and artists on stage at last night’s massive show in Maisonneuve Park improvised a tribute for the late singer of such hit songs as Pour Un Instant, Un Musicien Parmi Tant d’autres, and Dixie.

The band released three albums during its career, from their self-titled folk-inspired debut Harmonium, before moving into a decisively progressive-rock style with the follow-up albums Si On Avait Besoin d’Une Cinquieme Saison, and the double concept record L’Heptade.

Fiori also recorded a highly successful collaboration with Quebec star Richard Seguin, called Cent Nuits À l’heure, and two solo albums.

“When I was 16 and first heard Harmonium, I was amazed. I thought all rock bands came from the United States and Britain,” former CHOM FM host Terry Di-Monte told CTV News.

“It opened my eyes to Quebec art and culture. And I think Harmonium did that for a lot of Anglophones in the province,” he added.

In fact, co-founder Louis Valois says the band credits the Montreal FM rock station for adding them to their playlist at the time. A rarity for a band that sang in French.

“CHOM made Harmonium in Quebec. After two weeks or three weeks after the first album Harmonium was everywhere on radio, but mainly it’s the English people who started the scene,” says Valois.

Harmonium also owes their record deal to music executives in Toronto.

“I remember the beginning, we are three guys like doing songs in French. That was important to us. But and we we tried to find a record company here in Quebec, and everybody was saying, no, the songs are too long ... So it’s a record company from Toronto. They called and said, we’re interested to sign you guys,” Valois says.

But according to his biographer Louise Thériault, there was one compromise Fiori wouldn’t make. And that was to sing in English.

“In 1978 Columbia records, wanted to sign a contract with him for $ 1 million, but he had to sing in English, and he refused it. So the band was really upset ... $ 1 million back then was a lot of money, and he refused it,” says Thériault.

She says Fiori was a man who dealt with depression, anxiety and stage fright his entire life, to the point where he never performed on stage again after Harmonium’s break-up in 1979

“He was afraid of psychotherapy. He was so afraid that we would think he’d be crazy that he would not go and see anyone. But he was taking a lot of medication to manage his anxiety,” she says.

Theriault says she convinced him to seek therapy, and it allowed Fiori to return to the spotlight in recent year, where he made public appearances for his album’s reissues, and even gave media interviews, something he never did in the past.

The band’s success wasn’t limited to Quebec. Harmonium toured in Europe with Supertramp, and filled concert halls in the rest of Canada, including the Maple Leaf Garden.

Canada’s own Larry Gowan, a successful solo musician and singer for the American band Styx, even recorded Harmonium’s Pour un Instant.

Funeral arrangements will be announced in the coming days.

‘One of our greats’: tributes for Fiori on social media

Many Quebecers shared tributes on social media in memory of Fiori and his impact on Quebec culture.

According to Quebec Liberal MNA Marc Tanguay, Fiori was “one of our greats” who “left a lasting mark on the Quebec music scene with his unique chords and voice.”

He said his songs are “musical masterpieces” that live on in the daily lives of Quebecers.

“Thank you, Serge Fiori. My deepest condolences to his family and loved ones,” Tanguay wrote on X.

Ruba Ghazal, co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire, also shared a tribute online.

“There have been many great artists in Quebec. But great artists of Serge Fiori’s stature are few and far between,” she wrote in a post on X.

The leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, called Fiori a “true ambassador of Quebec culture.”

“Serge Fiori was an immense lyricist and melodist, the tunes of his songs have accompanied us for over 50 years and will continue to do so into the future,” he said on X.

“The singer of the favourite band of an entire generation also accompanied René Lévesque on tour in California to introduce the vitality of Quebec music to the United States. He was a proud separatist,” he added.

“On behalf of the Parti Québécois, I would like to offer my sincere condolences to his family and loved ones.”

With files from Noovo Info and The Canadian Press