The world of Quebec 1950-1969
We were given a cottage to live in during the "season." It was several miles from the hotel dad played at. During the weekends or high season he would stay in a converted barn with the other musicians because they would finish work late into the night. They shared this space with an owl which would fly out at twilight to go to attend to his work. It seemed so exciting to be sleeping on the straw bunks. Better than walking for an hour to get to the dinning hall for our evening meal. That is one of the places dad was known as George Adams. We had to rehearse not only our change of name but also that we were church-goers. A neighbor asked me to show her how I made the sign of the cross and as I pointed from forehead to knees she laughed. Dad tried to console my anxiety about having given our secret away in spite of reliving the dread of being Jewish being continued in the new land. It took courage to stay the course, it took dedication to pursue the dream for a "green horn" with a family and a passion for the arts. Being a survivor has taken on many different challenges over the course of his life. Nevertheless, many dear friendships were made. People from the arts usually seem to place talent and humanity before politics and prejudice.
He developed a friendship with the great Jean Grimaldi during that period. Mr. Grimaldi owned and managed a number of theaters that our father performed in. Recognizing his talent and ability to compose original music, Jean and our father formed a team. Mr. Grimaldi would write the lyrics, dad would write the music. Together they generated songs for the top performers of the time and this music often topped the hit parade of the 50’s and 60’s. Other teams developed including lyricists like Jimmy Burns.
Relations were formed with singers like Yvan Daniel, who was known as the “King of the Singers” prior to his unfortunate death during the height of his career. He initially sang either American compositions translated to French, or sang songs imported from France itself. It was a revelation and an enormous opportunity to have his music written and composed uniquely for himself. Other performers took advantage of this creative talent as well.
Jean-Pierre Sevigny illustrated many of these celebrities at my father's 75th birthday celebration held at the Jewish Congress in Montreal. Jac Darieux, Quebec’s Elvis at that time, the crooners Roland Montreuil and Rod Norman, and of course the Celine Dion of the 50’s – the great Alys Robi.
These were wonderful, exciting times, but like the music industry in general, things take its toll, and our father gradually shifted towards teaching music the majority of his week, and continuing to write music only for special circumstances.
There are literally hundreds of Montrealers who have learned to playmusical instruments from our father - not only the violin but the piano, guitar, mandolin, flute, accordion and a host of other instruments. I can still remember the sounds of violins being tortured from the time I came home from school to the time I went to bed.
Dad would spend much of the rest of his time pursuing various other arts. He was a true Renaissance man. He has produced dozens of paintings, which presently hang throughout the world.
Our Mother, who was a talented poet and sculptor herself, died in 1984. She will always be remembered. After her death, our father’s involvement in music lapsed. Instead he focused on my mothers love, poetry. He has since written several books of prose and has several more projects he plans to complete.
He has long ago set the poems of famous Jewish poets to music, including Simchovitz, Gottleib, Segal, I.L. Peretz and Ruchel Cohen. He would like to see this published in the near future and also hopes to record a program of rare Jewish music one day.
We hope we’ve presented you with a succinct and heartfelt synopsis of the man as a musician, artist and eternal optimist. Life with our dad was never dull. He continues to inspire strong emotions in all of us. He seeped us in culture, showed us how to shine our light even in the darkest of moments. He gave to those who have known him inspiration, awe and, the sound of music in at least 3 languages. We honor his achievement and celebrate his devotion to the arts.