Stéphane Paquette

Stéphane Paquette
Stéphane Paquette at French music festival La Nuit sur l'étang, in Sudbury
Background information
Also known asStef
Born (1973-12-18) December 18, 1973 (age 51)
Chelmsford, Ontario, Canada
Occupation(s)Singer-songwriter, actor
Years active1993–present
Websitewww.stefpaquette.ca

Stéphane "Stef" Paquette (born December 18, 1973., in Chelmsford, Ontario) is a Franco-Ontarian singer-songwriter, actor, and politician.

Career

A founding member of the band Les Chaizes Muzikales in 1993, Paquette launched a solo career in 2002 with his first solo album, L'Homme exponentiel. His second solo album, Salut de l'arrière pays, was released in 2011 and won a number of awards, including the Prix Trille Or from the Association des professionels de la chanson et de la musique in 2013.[1] In January 2014, he won five of the seven prizes at the annual Contact ontarois music competition, with his prize package including an extensive series of music festival bookings across Canada.[2]

In 2009, he appeared on the debut album by Patricia Cano, as a duet vocalist on the track "Nada de nieve". In 2011, he participated as a supporting musician in a reunion tour by the rock band CANO.[3]

In 2012, Paquette released a full length album, Le Salut de l'arrière-pays that he composes with Normand Renaud. In 2015, he followed up with a three-song EP.

After a three-year hiatus in which cinema, television and other projects took a lot of space, Paquette launched the single "Plus belle que toé" in September 2018. Paquette has started to move into the country/bluegrass genre, frequently in collaboration with the Sudbury band Murder Murder.

Paquette is also known as an improv comedian and actor, whose television roles have included Météo+, Les Bleus de Ramville[4] and Hard Rock Medical. Paquette is one of the three lead actors in the feature film Perspective.

In addition, he was also an afternoon host on CHYC-FM in Sudbury, and performed at a rally in Sudbury on 5 April 2009, to protest staff cutbacks at CBCS-FM, the city's CBC Radio One station.[5]

In 2019, Paquette announced his candidacy in the New Democratic Party's nomination contest for Nickel Belt in the 2019 Canadian federal election.[6] He won the nomination and stood second with 32.1% of the vote, 3,390 votes behind the incumbent Liberal MP Marc Serré.

Electoral record

2019 Canadian federal election: Nickel Belt
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Liberal Marc Serré 19,046 38.99 -3.81 $96,428.93
New Democratic Stéphane Paquette 15,656 32.05 -5.73 $18,983.01
Conservative Aino Laamanen 10,343 21.17 +4.43 $7,684.88
Green Casey Lalonde 2,644 5.41 +2.93 none listed
People's Mikko Paavola 1,159 2.37 – none listed
Total valid votes/expense limit 48,848 99.39
Total rejected ballots 298 0.61 +0.22
Turnout 49,146 64.17 -2.94
Eligible voters 76,585
Liberal hold Swing +0.96
Source: Elections Canada[7][8]

References

  1. ^ Castonguay, Pascale (31 March 2013). "Gala des prix Trille Or : deux statuettes pour les Chiclettes". Le Métropolitain (in French). Archived from the original on 3 February 2014.
  2. ^ "Stef Paquette wins 'the golden ticket' to employment". Northern Life, 29 January 2014.
  3. ^ Marc André Joanisse (16 June 2011). "Un dernier "gros show" pour CANO" [One last "big show" for CANO]. Le Droit (in French). Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  4. ^ "Greater Sudbury is stage for hockey drama" Northern Life, 9 February 2011.
  5. ^ "Musicians, politicians participate in CBC rally" Archived 9 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Northern Life, 7 April 2009.
  6. ^ "L'humoriste Stef Paquette se lance dans l’arène politique". Ici Radio-Canada Nord de l'Ontario, 31 May 2019.
  7. ^ "List of confirmed candidates". Elections Canada. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  8. ^ "Official Voting Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved 15 July 2021.