Patsy Gallant, born as Adrienne Gallant on August 15, 1948, in Campbellton, is a renowned pop singer and musical theatre actress with Acadian roots. She has showcased her talents in both English and French languages through her recordings and performances.

Hailing from a family of 10 siblings, Patsy joined The Gallant Sisters at the age of five, performing alongside her elder sisters Angeline, Florine, and Ghislaine. After her family relocated to Moncton when she was eight, she gained television exposure, and by ten, she was performing in Montreal nightclubs with the group. Patsy embarked on her solo career in 1967, appearing in commercials and featuring regularly on the French TV variety show Discothèque and its English counterpart, Music Hop.

Her first single was released in 1967, leading to appearances on various television variety shows. Later, she performed at Montreal’s Place des Arts with Charles Aznavour and collaborated with a group of talented creators, including Yves Lapierre, Judi Richards, Denis Forcier, Jean-Guy Chapados, and Ken Owen, who wrote and composed songs in English for her.

In 1971, Patsy co-starred in the weekly TV variety show Smash, broadcasted by Télévision de Radio-Canada (CBC Television’s French division). While on the show, she partnered with singer-songwriter Christine Charbonneau, who penned the lyrics for her two major French albums produced by Columbia Records. Charbonneau’s contributions included “Tout va trop vite”, “Thank you come again” (French version), “Toi l’enfant”, “Le lit qui craque”, “Un monde en voie de naître”, and “Un jour comme les autres”. Patsy released “Tout va trop vite” in 1972, followed by “Toi l’enfant” in 1974, with several songs making their way up the Quebec charts. The original song “Les femmes” from the latter album became a hit and was covered by Sheila in France in 1976. Gallant’s first English album, “Upon My Own”, was released in late 1972, with only “Get That Ball” achieving minor success.

Aiming to capture the American audience, Patsy recorded her 1974 album “Power” in Nashville. Although the album produced four moderately popular singles, “Save the Last Dance For Me”, “Make My Living”, “Doctor’s Orders”, and the title track “Upon My Own”, it failed to achieve a commercial breakthrough.

Patsy Gallant’s most significant pop success arrived in 1976 when she collaborated with producer and manager Ian Robertson for the album “Are You Ready For Love”.

“From New York to L.A.” was Patsy Gallant’s only recording that gained attention beyond Canada, achieving hit status in various countries such as the UK (#6 on the UK Singles Chart in August 1977), Ireland (#5), Australia (#10), the Netherlands (#15), Norway (#7), South Africa (#5), and Sweden (#17).

Additionally, “Sugar Daddy” and the album’s title track, “Are You Ready for Love”, became Top 20 Canadian hits, contributing to Gallant’s victories as Best Female Vocalist at the Juno Awards in both 1976 and 1977.

While US radio stations largely ignored “From New York to L.A.” and “Sugar Daddy”, these songs found success in American discos. In 1977, Gallant released her French album, Besoin d’amour, featuring a French version of “Sugar Daddy”, and won another Juno Award as the best female vocalist.

In 1978, Gallant launched the English album “Will You Give Me Your Love” and the French album “Patsy Gallant et Star” on Attic Records. She scored a hit with “Stay a While With Me” (“Aime-moi” in French) and also released the English album “Patsy!” containing the disco hit “O Michel”. Gallant followed up with a bilingual greatest hits compilation in early 1979, including a rendition of the original song “Mon Pays”.

As disco’s popularity waned, Gallant’s later albums experienced diminished sales. Following her 1984 album “Take Another Look,” she stepped back from the music industry and transitioned to musical theatre in the late 1980s. Gallant has appeared in productions of Cats, Nunsense, a stage biography of Édith Piaf, and portrayed Stella Spotlight in the French hit musical Starmania in Paris, which ran for eight years in the 1990s. Interestingly, Starmania’s creator, Luc Plamondon, had wanted Gallant to play Stella in the original stage production in the 1970s, but due to her hectic schedule, her managers never informed her about the opportunity, and Diane Dufresne assumed the role of Stella Spotlight in the initial production. Gallant also briefly played the stepmother in Cindy, a Cinderella-based musical also written by Plamondon.

Gallant married (and subsequently divorced) composer-pianist Dwayne Ford, who contributed to many of her records and produced her “Take Another Look” album. The couple had a son named Jason.

After an eight-year stay in Paris, Gallant returned to Canada in 2005 and released the compilation album “Tout va trop vite,” featuring many of her most significant French hits, early 1960s recordings, previously unreleased disco-era tracks such as “It’s Got to Be You,” and a re-recording of “Sugar Daddy.” More recently, Gallant collaborated with French rap group Treizième Étage on a duet titled “Faut pas lâcher,” which appeared on their 2006 album “L’Asphalte dans mon district.” Her single “Coeur de velours” was released in July 2010.

Capitalizing on her disco fame, Gallant hosted her own variety show, “The Patsy Gallant Show,” produced and aired on CTV between 1978 and 1979.

In 2002, Gallant secured a supporting role as a nightclub singer in the feature film “Yellowknife.” She performed four songs for the film’s soundtrack, including “Sugar Daddy,” “Ain’t No Way to Treat a Woman,” “Dancing in the Wind,” and “Save My Soul,” all of which she composed herself. This role earned Gallant a 2003 Jutra Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress (Meilleure Actrice de Soutien).

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