A Debut 25 Years in the Making
"Good things come
to those who wait" is one of those age-old cliché. But like most pithy sayings, there
is always an element of truth.
This certainly applies to Ronald Tremblay. Tremblay is an Edmonton,
Canada based singer/songwriter who recently released his first full-length CD,
Poésie pour le poivre [Poor Man's Poetry - a Spanish graffiti artist
unintentionally misspelled 'pauvres' as 'poivres']. How is this
different from any artist releasing their premier album? Well, for one,
most "new" artists did not wait 25 years to produce their first product.
But Tremblay did.
"I actually had an opportunity to put something like this together a little
more than 20 years ago. Somebody had approached me, and in a way it was
a previous life for me because my headspace wasn't exactly right at that
time. Life was much more hectic; I've toned down quite a bit. It's only
in the last 5 or 6 years that I'm actually simmered down to the point where
I'm thinking of putting my stuff together," explains Tremblay, 47, in a
coffee shop in downtown Edmonton.
The album therefore is the result of 25 years of songwriting, life, and trials.
Although Tremblay has been into writing songs and performing since his late
teens, he put his musical career on the backburner as he became involved
with day jobs necessary to make a living, but that most people would
consider exciting and artistic endeavours unto themselves, such as being
a producer for the French Radio CBC (CHFA) for 15 years after being a field
rep for the CAPAC (SOCAN) association for songwriters, in Montreal.
Next page > Ronald Tremblay: Part Two >
Photos © 2003 Paula E. Kirman
