Programme Double 50e Anniversaire - Sylvain Lelièvre - Digital

SYLVAIN LELIÈVRE
The album Programme double celebrates its 50th anniversary!

Fifty years ago, Sylvain Lelièvre (1943–2002) released Programme double, his third record, which has since become a landmark album in the discography of the poet from Limoilou.
The album includes the title track, featuring Fabienne Thibeault on backing vocals, Toi l’ami, Le fleuve, as well as the hit Marie-Hélène, one of the most well-known songs in the artist’s repertoire.
In an interview, Sylvain Lelièvre explained that the “Marie-Hélène” in question represented a whole generation, and that the song itself expressed solitude more than an actual person. The track was named a SOCAN Classic in 2001 (recognizing at least 25,000 radio plays) and was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2015.
Speaking about Programme double, Sylvain Lelièvre once said:
“I can’t listen to this record without seeing the four of us again, François Messier, André Paquette, Pierre di Pasquale and myself, rehearsing over and over, playing anywhere, for any price, on any stage […]. They were barely over twenty, ten years younger than me; I owe them the unique chance of having been twenty twice in my life.”

Singer-songwriter, composer, poet, writer and teacher, Sylvain Lelièvre left behind a poetic and musical body of work that is both unique and timeless. Over a career spanning nearly four decades, the three-time Félix Award winner released ten studio albums, two live albums and four compilations. He was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2022.