Item 120 - Je vous aime ma vie recommence

Acadian folksinger Édith Butler was born in Paquetville, New Brunswick, the oldest of five children in a music-loving family; she was experimenting on her mother’s piano at by age three. When she was sent to the convent of the Collège Notre-Dame-de -L’Acadie for her education, her brother gave her a guitar to bring along. The girl overcame her timidity about performing Acadian folksongs for her fellow boarders, and by the time she entered the University of Moncton she was singing at music festivals. In 1964 she had a leading role in the National Film Board’s “Les Acadiens de la Dispersion.” Having earned her B.A., she began teaching from 1964 to 1966 to support herself while she continued with her studies in literature and ethnography at the Université de Laval; she completed her master’s degree in 1969. That same year she recorded her first album. The next year she spent six months at Expo 70 in Osaka, Japan, performing in three shows a day (for a total of 500) at the Canadian pavilion, where she met many Quebec artists like Gilles Vigneault. On her return she participated in various North American music festivals; then she toured Ireland in 1971 and Europe in 1973. She now began composing her own songs, often with her agent Lise Aubut, and accepted a contract with Columbia Records. In 1974 the two of them founded the label SPPS (Société de production et programmation de spectacle) with Acadian singer Angèle Arsenault and Quebécois author/composer Jacqueline Lemay. Butler recorded with SSPS from 1975 to 1983. In 1975 she and Aubut started Éditions de l’Acadie and ACALF (Aide à la création artistique et littéraire de la femme). The 1970s and 1980s saw Butler performing constantly at festivals, recitals and television specials in both North America and abroad, often playing banjo, dulcimer, harmonica, drum and violin in addition to guitar. She was showered with honors: the Order of Canada in 1975, Prix international de la chanson in 1981, Grand prix du disque de l’Académie Charles-Cros in 1983, Félix trophies for pop show and for most sales in 1985, Chevalier de l’ordre national de Mérite de la République française in 1999, Canadian Heritage Prix Monfort in 2004, induction into the Canadian Songwriters’ Hall of Fame in 2007, and the Governor-General’s award for lifetime achievement in performing arts in 2009, the same year a Canadian stamp was issued in her honor. In her 50-year career she has recorded 300 titles on 28 albums, two of which were certified platinum and one gold.