Robert Charlebois

In an interview for the 2021 exhibition, Robert Charlebois spoke about Gilles Mathieu and La Butte:

“He helped make me the artist I am today because he gave me my very first chance. That’s something you don’t forget. I was Jean-Guy Moreau’s pianist. We told a little white lie. In a boîte à chansons in Sherbrooke or Trois-Rivières, the owner had asked us: “Do you have any experience? We answered: “Yes, at La Butte à Mathieu. Yes, indeed, we know La Butte all right.” Because we had been to La Butte, but as tourists, as spectators. So he hired us: “If you are good enough for La Butte à Mathieu, you are good enough for here.” When we left there, we said to ourselves: “We have to go and see Gilles Mathieu right away. At least do an audition because these people talk to each other, it’s a network.”

We got on our Lambrettas and went to La Butte. I said I was the pianist for Jean-Guy, who was starting to do imitations. He could imitate Raymond Lévesque, Claude Léveillée, Brassens… Mathieu was bursting with laughter. I’m at the piano, so Mathieu asks me: “Have you got any songs?” I had La Boulée, Les Canayens y-z-ont ça de bon, Les petites filles and Ni chanson, ni poème, which was a 1963 rap. Mathieu said to me: “You have four good songs, I’ll give you eight minutes before Félix. You’re going to open for him.” My legs were shaking. I had stage fright. I said to myself, “This is the first time in my life that I’m going to sing in front of people. I have a sore throat. I have a cold. What happens if I choke while I’m singing?”

Then I saw Félix coming, shaking his feet, brushing the snow off his tuque, a snowstorm outside. He was waiting to start. “Is there a big crowd tonight?” Mathieu answers: “Félix, it’s full. We don’t know where to put people.” I saw him chewing on his tuque and kicking the wall. I thought to myself: “How come he’s so nervous? If I make a mistake, it’s my problem, but if he gets something wrong, the crowd knows all his songs, so they’ll sing it for him.”

“Over the years, you learn that every time you go on stage, you set the bar a little higher.”