Régine Chassagne |
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Régine Chassagne (French pronunciation: [ʁeˈʒin ʃɑˈsɑːɲ]; born 18 August 1977)[1] is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist musician and singer, and a founding member of the band Arcade Fire. She is married to co-founder Win Butler.
Life and career
Régine Chassagne was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and grew up in St-Lambert, a suburb south of Montreal.[2][3] Her parents emigrated from Haiti during the dictatorship of Jean-Claude Duvalier, which is alluded to in the Arcade Fire song "Haiti", in which she sings, Mes cousins jamais nés hantent les nuits de Duvalier ("My unborn cousins haunt Duvalier's nights").[4]
Chassagne earned a B.A. in communication studies at Concordia University in 1998,[5] and went on to study jazz voice briefly at McGill University.[6] She was singing jazz at an art opening at Concordia in 2000 when Butler met her and persuaded her to join his band; after line-up changes, only the two of them were left. They married in 2003. She plays many instruments on stage, including the accordion, drums, xylophone, hurdy-gurdy, keyboards and organ.
Chassagne has also been involved with a medieval band called Les Jongleurs de la Mandragore,[7] and a jazz band, Azúcar. She also wrote the music for the two-minute David Uloth sketch "The Shine,"[8] and contributed to the UNICEF benefit project as part of the North American Hallowe'en Prevention Initiative, performing the song "Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?" along with Win Butler.
References
- ^ Hoard, Christian. (February 24, 2005). "The Fire This Time." Rolling Stone. Retrieved October 19, 2007.
- ^ Carpenter, Lorraine. (September 16, 2004). "Hot property." Montreal Mirror. Retrieved October 19, 2007.
- ^ "Arcade Fire talk about their music." (March 6, 2007). Radio Telefís Éireann. Retrieved March 16, 2007.
- ^ Hanley Bemis, Alec. (December 1, 2004). "Weddings & Funerals." LA Weekly. Retrieved October 19, 2007.
- ^ McDonagh, Patrick. (Fall 2006). "Musical Joy." Concordia University Magazine. Retrieved October 19, 2007.
- ^ "The Arcade Fire is red hot." (Winter 2004). McGill News. Retrieved October 19, 2007.
- ^ "Les Jongleurs de la Mandragore." (n.d.). Retrieved October 19, 2007.
- ^ "The Shine (2002)." (n.d.). The Internet Movie Database. Retrieved October 19, 2007.
External links
- Profile of Régine Chassagne from an article by Elizabeth Goodman in Rolling Stone
- Inter Press Service on the Arcade Fire and Régine Chassagne's Advocacy for Haiti