Nicole Martin (29 September 1949 â 19 February 2019) was a Québécois singer-songwriter, host, director and producer.
Nicole Martin was born on 29 September 1949 in Donnacona, Quebec, Canada to Joseph Martin and Simone Brousseau. She grew up in Quebec City.
Martin started playing piano when she was five years old. She started her career by singing and hosting in Quebec City's clubs and cabarets, when she was fourteen. Starting in 1965, she performed for five years in Quebec cabarets with a vibraphonist named Frédéric. In 1970, on Tony Roman's initiative, she took on the character of Zerra. It would only last a few rock concerts.
She signed a contract with Yves Martin in 1971. She published her first publicly acclaimed songs: "La première nuit d'amour", "Oui, paraît-il", "On est fait pour vivre ensemble" and "Les coeurs n'ont pas de fenêtres". The latter two songs were sung in duo with Jimmy Bond between 1973 and 1975. In 1974, she won an interpretation prize at the Festival de la rose d'or in France for "Ce serait dommage". She sung love songs to great success from 1975 onward.
Martin sung "Bonsoir tristesse" at the 1977 Yamaha World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo and won the Festival's first prize. The song was composed by Francis Lai, with whom she collaborated starting in 1976. She toured Japan, and then gave recitals at the Grand Théâtre de Québec and at the Place des Arts in 1978, 1979 and 1981. She also was the subject of multiple television specials. In 1981, she participated at the Jean Lapointe tribute show.
She withdrew from performance in the mid-1990s, but returned in 2010. She focused on publishing discs between 1988 and 1991, producing for Fernand Gignac, Michel Louvain and Michèle Richard under her label Diva.
Nicole Martin died on 19 February 2019. She posthumously received a Medal of the National Assembly on 1 October 2019.