Carmen Déziel, the queen’s forgotten Rock ‘ n ‘ Roll

Photo courtesy of Bruno Berthold, personal collection of Carmen Déziel and Armand Desrochers, Facade of Casa Loma at the end of march 1957. Photo Pierre-Paul Poulin

Centre d’histoire de Montréal

Saturday, 10 march, 2018 19:49

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Saturday, 10 march, 2018 19:49

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Featured At Casa Loma

At the end of march 1957, the storefront of the Casa Loma has the charming figure of the singer Carmen Déziel. Located at 94, rue Sainte-Catherine est, the Casa Loma is a cabaret emblematic of the Montreal of the 1950s. At the store, meeting a friend or a companion to go dancing at the disco upstairs or see a variety show at the cabaret. Attending formerly the Casa Loma, the former police officer Réal Beauchamp remembers that he had to put on a dress to open the door. A good tip slipped in soft-to-the doorman you don’t have to be sitting behind one of the columns in the shape of a palm tree. The québec luminaries such as Denise Filiatrault, Dominique Michel, Les Jérolas, Paolo Noël, Ginette Reno, Alys Robi, Jen Roger, the trio of Tony Romandini, Ti-Gus and Ti-Mousse are here to entertain you. But the popularity of the cabaret declines with the arrival of television and the opening of Place des Arts. A triple murder linked to organized crime in 1971 results in the closing of the Casa Loma.

Carmen and his troubadours

Photo courtesy of Bruno Berthold, personal collection of Carmen Déziel and Armand Desrochers, Carmen Déziel and Armand Desrochers (possibly) at the Casa Loma.

To sing the success of Elvis Presley at Casa Loma, Carmen takes her blue dress with crinoline and shoes to match. Its troubadours are no other than her husband, Armand Desrochers, acoustic guitar, Norman Pitts to the double-neck guitar and Roger Roy on the accordion. The young singer sherbrooke was noted at the age of 14 by winning a talent contest on the radio CHLT. His parents considering it too young to make career in Montreal, Carmen perfects her talents with a small musical group, The Happy Pals, where she met her husband. Leaving the custody of their daughter Marlene at her parents, the couple toured under the leadership of Jean Grimaldi in 1955, in the company of other artists. In 1956, the record company RCA Victor launches the first great success of Carmen Déziel, My shoes blues, the recovery in French-speaking of Blue Suede Shoes. The career of the young singer takes flight.

The shoes in blue-Carmen

Photo courtesy of Bruno Berthold, personal collection of Carmen Déziel and Armand Desrochers, Lp of Carmen Déziel, My shoes blues, RCA Victor, 1956.

With the release of his lp in 1956, Carmen Déziel became the first singer French save a piece of rock ‘ n ‘ roll in North America. Carmen and Elvis have another point in common : the same record company — RCA Victor ! Because the experience is fruitful, the singer sherbrooke then resumes in French Don’t Be Cruel, always Elvis Presley, and Eddie My Love The Teen Queens. But it is with Bambino (recovery of the Italian song Guaglione), Carmen Déziel slips at the top of the Hit Parade in 1957. On tour in Quebec and in the United States, Carmen Déziel is frequently on the airwaves of radio and television, including Club autographs in 1960. Leaving gradually the business show, couple-singer returns to live in the family to Sherbrooke. Care of his wife suffering from Alzheimer’s, Armand dies a few months after Carmen, in January 2015.

► The Centre d’histoire de Montréal wishes to thank Bruno Berthold, who opened the archives of the torque Déziel-Desrochers, as well as Sébastien Desrosiers (the records of The national treasury) for his valuable advice in the writing of this column.