Roger Doucet
{{short description|Canadian opera singer}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=November 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Roger Doucet
| image = Chorale Satya d'Amos 1980 06.jpg
| caption = Roger Doucet (right) in 1980
| image_size =
| background = solo_singer
| birth_name =
| Legal_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1919|4|21}}
| birth_place = Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1981|7|19|1919|4|21}}
| death_place = Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| origin =
| instrument = Voice
| genre =
| occupation = singer
| years_active = 1941–1981
| label =
| associated_acts =
| website =
| current_members =
| past_members =
}}
Roger Doucet {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|CM}} (21 April 1919 – 19 July 1981) was a Canadian tenor best known for singing the Canadian national anthem, "O Canada", at televised games of the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Alouettes, and Montreal Expos during the 1970s. He was particularly known for his bilingual version of the anthem, which began in French and ended in English, in recognition of the two languages of Canada.{{cite web |title=Canada Vignettes: The Performer |url=https://www.nfb.ca/film/canada_vignettes_the_performer/ |website=National Film Board |publisher=National Film Board of Canada |accessdate=18 May 2019 |date=1978}}
Career
Doucet's first performance of the national anthem at a Canadiens game was on 13 October 1970.{{cite news | url=http://www.montrealcanadiens.ca/artman/publish/article_6.shtml | title=The Montreal Forum | first=Paul | last=Doucet | date=30 January 2004 | accessdate=9 September 2009 }} Author Andrew Podnieks noted that Doucet "belted the anthem with an enthusiasm that energized the crowd as much as any Lafleur slapper or Robinson hip check."{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qnVpwcFbNWQC&pg=PA52 | title=A Canadian Saturday Night: Hockey and the Culture of a Country | first=Andrew | last=Podnieks | date=December 2009 | authorlink=Andrew Podnieks | publisher=Greystone | isbn=978-1-55365-201-4 | page=52 | accessdate=9 September 2009}}
During the inaugural Canada Cup tournament, Doucet was scheduled to sing the national anthems at a game between Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union on 3 September 1976. However, the lyrics for "Hymn of the Soviet Union" were omitted since the mid-1950s due to their Stalinist content. Doucet consulted with the Université de Montréal's Russian department staff who provided a modified anthem to sing at the game.{{cite web | url=http://www.histori.ca/minutes/lp.do;jsessionid=21002BC0D6B8055736A492D981AD0506.tomcat1?id=13113 | accessdate=1 January 2008 | title=The Great Teams | publisher=Historica Foundation of Canada | work=History by the Minute }}{{cite news|url=https://ottawacitizen.com/sports/Cold/1975038/story.html |title=The Cold War on ice / The Soviet national anthem had no words, but that was no problem for the singing voice of the Montreal Canadiens |first=Eric |last=Morse |newspaper=Ottawa Citizen |date=9 September 2009 |accessdate=9 September 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090911235201/http://www.ottawacitizen.com/sports/Cold/1975038/story.html |archivedate=11 September 2009 }}
Doucet also changed the way Canadians sing their anthem. Before Doucet, the final "we stand on guard for Thee" was universally sung the way it was written: fa-mi-re-soh-ti-doh, with the 'ti' and the 'doh' falling. Doucet sang the final 'ti-doh' by raising these notes an octave above their traditional pitch. The audience of CBC's Hockey Night in Canada was so vast, and his rendition so powerful, that within a few years Doucet's version became—and remains—the accepted way to conclude O Canada.
In 1980, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada, Canada's highest civilian honour, "in recognition for the feeling of pride he has instilled in his fellow citizens".[http://www.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=1936 Order of Canada citation]{{Cite web |date=July 21, 1981 |title=Roger Doucet |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/21/obituaries/roger-doucet.html |access-date=January 12, 2024 |website=New York Times |page=B10}}{{Cite web |title=Roger Doucet, famous for his powerful singing of 'O... |date=July 19, 1981 |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/07/19/Roger-Doucet-famous-for-his-powerful-singing-of-O/5945364363200/ |access-date=2024-01-12 |website=UPI |language=en |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240708220851/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/07/19/Roger-Doucet-famous-for-his-powerful-singing-of-O/5945364363200/ |archive-date= 8 July 2024 }}{{Cite web |last=Halter |first=Fran |date=July 23, 1981 |title=Roger Doucet buried to his rendition of 'O Canada' |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/07/23/Roger-Doucet-buried-to-his-rendition-of-O-Canada/1309364708800/ |access-date=2024-01-12 |website=UPI |language=en |url-status=live |archive-url= https://archive.today/20240708213711/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/07/23/Roger-Doucet-buried-to-his-rendition-of-O-Canada/1309364708800/ |archive-date= 8 July 2024 }}
Roger Doucet died in Montreal on 19 July 1981 from brain cancer.{{cite web | url=http://www.braintumour.ca/braintumour.nsf/files/1698/$file/MontrealRelease2007.pdf?openelement | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160116130419/http://www.braintumour.ca/braintumour.nsf/files/1698/$file/MontrealRelease2007.pdf?openelement | url-status=dead | archive-date=16 January 2016 | publisher=Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada | accessdate=1 January 2008 | date=25 April 2007 | title=Continuing the Doucet Legacy of Bringing Hope to Others }}
Legacy
American sportswriter Paul Zimmerman (Dr. Z) remembered as a highlight of his coverage of Canadiens games that Doucet "[b]rought the house down. I mean, people would cry when he finished that song. And it never ran longer than 47 or 48 seconds."{{cite magazine | url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/writers/dr_z/02/26/insider/index.html | title=Singing the blues | authorlink=Paul Lionel Zimmerman | author=Dr. Z | magazine=Sports Illustrated | date=26 February 2004 | accessdate=9 September 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110210092938/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/writers/dr_z/02/26/insider/index.html |archive-date=Feb 10, 2011 }}
In the Montreal Canadiens home opener for the 2020–21 NHL season, the Canadiens put together a compilation of some of the famous anthem singers they have had starting with Roger Doucet and ending with Ginette Reno.
References
External links
- {{cite encyclopedia |last=Thomas |first=Suzanne |title=Roger Doucet |encyclopedia=[The Canadian Encyclopedia] |date=16 December 2013 |publisher=[Historica Canada] |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/roger-doucet-emc}}
- [http://www.nhl.tv/team/console?type=fvod&id=20191 Roger Doucet tribute at NHL Network]
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3faC2vcKko May 1979 performance of US and Canadian anthems by Roger Doucet in the Montreal Forum]
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Category:Canadian operatic tenors
Category:Members of the Order of Canada
Category:Musicians from Montreal