Ginette Reno

Ginette Reno, OC CQ (born 28 April 1946) is a French Canadian author, composer, singer, and actress. She has received nominations for the Genie and Gemini Awards and is a multi-recipient of the Juno Award. She is a gold and platinum selling Canadian musician. Born Ginette Raynault in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, she began singing in 1960 and won the talent contest "Les Découvertes de Jean Simon" (Jean Simons Discoveries). With this success, three clubs in Montreal (Café Caprice, le Café de lEst and the Café Provincial) offered Reno her first professional contract. Reno is a gold and platinum selling Canadian artist.She has recorded in both English and French. Her biggest hit in English was her 1970 song "Beautiful Second Hand Man". It reached #2 on the RPM singles chart for the week of 28 November 1970.The song was from her third album Beautiful Second Hand Man released in 1971 on Parrot Records.The song was re-released on the French record label Melon-Miel on a two disc compilation Vocally Yours Vol. 7 & 8 in 2004.Among her recordings is a Lynsey de Paul song "Dans la Vie Tout sArranger" (Storm in a Teacup). She mostly performs in Quebec. During her four-decade career, she has recorded approximately 60 albums. Ginette Reno (b Raynault). Singer, b Montreal 28 Apr 1946. At 14 Ginette Reno began participating in amateur contests, including Les Découvertes de Jean Simon at the Café de lEst in Montreal, where she was ranked first. She performed 1960-4 in nightclubs and radio and TV studios throughout Quebec and took singing lessons with Roger Larivière. In 1961 her first single, Non papa and Jaime Guy for Apex (followed by Roger), gained her immediate popular acclaim. Singing with equal ease in English and French, she patterned her career on the US show-business tradition. She was called a discovery in the 1964 Gala des artistes and scored a tremendous hit that year with Tu vivras toujours dans mon coeur. Her repertoire subsequently consisted mainly of sentimental ballads. Reno made the first of many appearances at the Place des Arts (PDA) in 1965 and the National Arts Centre (NAC) in 1969, and performed at the Comédie-Canadienne in 1968 and 1969 and at the Grand Théâtre de Québec in 1974 and 1976. At the Olympia in Paris, she took part with other Quebec artists in the revues Vive le Québec (1967) and Musicorama (1968). The Quebec public voted her Miss Radio-Television in 1968, and she was awarded a trophy at the MIDEM festival in Cannes that year. She also performed at the Garden of Stars at Expo 67 and won three trophies at the Montreal Festival du disque (most popular singer, strongest commercial value, and best LP). She performed in concerts with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra at the PDA and the NAC in 1969. In 1969 Reno signed a contract with Decca and gave two shows on BBC TV.