Crystal Plamondon has toured extensively, bringing her music to intimate venues, theaters, and festivals in North America and Europe.
She received the Molson Canadian ARIA (Alberta Recording Industry Association) Performer of the Year Award and was nominated for YWCA’s Tribute to Women Award for Arts & Culture. She was recognized as an honorary citizen of Breaux Bridge, Louisiana.
Crystal's second independent release, Carpe Diem! (1993) yielded two #1 hits in France - "Capitaine", followed quickly by "On va faire le rigodon". She released two other independent CDs – La Rousse Farouche in 1996, and Plus de frontières /No Borders in 2002. Both featured a wealth of original material as well as a few covers. Plus de frontières / No Borders was nominated for a Western Canadian Music Award for “Outstanding Francophone Recording” in 2003.
Crystal hosted the first French Country Music Program in North America called, CountryMax on Musimax, a sister station to Much Music and Musique Plus in Montréal in 1997 - 1998.
She has performed in Ottawa on parliament hill for the Canada Day celebrations; and on October 18, 2000 she translated and sang the Famous Five Anthem for the inauguration of the Women are Persons! monument on Parliament Hill once again.
Crystal has two music videos to her credit: filmed in Louisiana and Plamondon, AB. In addition to hosting numerous television, radio, and live events, her acting career includes performances in TV productions, movies, and live theatre. Her television special, Passeporte Musique, filmed in Benin, West Africa for Radio Canada in 1998, also aired on the BRAVO network.
In 2004 she was awarded Prix Sylvie Van Brabant for Excellence in Artisque Creation in Alberta. 2005 marked Crystal's lead performance in the musical, Cow-Boy Poétré, a production of L'UniTthéàtre / The National Arts Centre that toured the Maritimes and Alberta after its run in Ottawa.
Crystal wrote, performed, and MC’d a concert for Alberta Scene 2005 at The Canadian Museum Of Civilization Theatre. She also appeared in a documentary titled “Alberta Bound”, which aired on CBC Television in August of that same year as part of her province's centennial celebration.
Crystal came back to the live music stage in 2007 by headlining at The Leonard Cohen Festival in Edmonton.
In March 2009 she released her fifth and long awaited CD – On a Song & a Prayer / une chanson, une prière. She was co-executive producer and produced the 13 song CD, of which 10 of the songs were her original material. One of the songs from the recording – “Forever More” - was featured on the hit CBC-TV series Heartland Season 2, Episode 210. Later that year she recorded another original “Only Dreaming” for Heartland episode 303 in Season 3. She produced both of the songs for CBC.
In May 2009 she was honored with the “prix CHFA de la chanson albertaine”.
January 2010 marked a wonderful start to a great year for Crystal as she performed with her band at the Olympic Torch Relay ceremonies in Calgary and also sang Oh Canada! In March she realized a dream by releasing a soft jazz album of classic pop and jazz covers titled “TORCH!” her sixth album.
She returned to Louisiana for mardi gras to take part in the filming of a documentary titled “Au Coeur du Country” about the relationship between cajun and country music.
See other famous French roots folks here.
en français
Crystal Plamondon est originaire de Plamondon, petit village du Nord de l’Alberta, fondé en 1908, par son arrière-grand-père Franco-américain. Depuis les 20 dernières années, elle est auteure-compositeur- interprète bilingue. Lors de ses performances, elle déploie une gamme d’émotions passant de la ballade au country rock et au zydeco.
Dans le cadre de son spectacle Chanson de Torche (mieux connu sous ‘‘Peggy Lee rencontre Edith Piaf’’, elle est accompagnée simplement au piano ou par sa puissante orchestre de cinq musiciens ou son trio acoustique. Crystal connecte toujours avec le public.
Elle a fait des tournées dans plusieurs pays, en Amérique du Nord et en Europe, amenant sa musique dans des lieux intimes, des théâtres et des festivals. Elle a joué, au théâtre, dans la production musicale « Poétré de Cowboy », dans plusieurs films et plus de vingt spectacles télévisés.
Au fil des ans, Crystal a remporté plusieurs prix provinciaux, et nationaux et s’est impliquée dans différents projets scéniques, télévisés, radiophoniques et théâtraux en Amérique du Nord, en Europe et en Afrique de l’Ouest.
Après une période de ressourcement de deux ans, Crystal retourne sur la scène en 2007. Elle monte sur les planches du Central Music Festival de Red Deer et du Leonard Cohen Festival d’Edmonton.
L’an passé, en plus des performances live en Alberta, elle a enregistré son plus récent CD – On a Song & a Prayer – qui sera disponible en mars 2009. Une des pièces de l’enregistrement– “Forever More” – a d’ailleurs pu être entendue dans la série-vedette Heartland, à CBC-TV.
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