Biography

Diane Juster Singer-songwriter, pianist, Montreal 15 Mar 1946; BA (Montreal) 1966. She studied piano with Marie-Thérèse Paquin and Mme Legoff; encouraged by Stéphane Venne, she began composing in 1971. Julie Arel made Juster's name known by performing her 'Soleil, soleil,' 'Quand tu partiras,' and other songs. Juster began performing her own songs in May 1974, making a single (for the Fleur label) of her 'Ce Matin' and 'Vive les roses,' the latter for which she obtained a special prize (in the songwriter category) at the Olympiad of Quebec Song. In the summer of 1975 Juster represented Canada at the Festival international de la chanson française at Spa, in Belgium, and appeared on stage for the first time at the boîte à chansons Le Patriote in Montreal. Georges-Hébert Germain likened her to the French singer Barbara and continued: 'she has a style that sets her free from all professional constraints. It is herself that she is expressing, it is her life she performs. You enter her world, with its interplay of soft lights and subtle hues, her music with its beautiful contours, rich in suggestion. There is grace and a lot of class in each word, gesture, and movement' (La Presse, 25 Sep 1975). She took part in several CBC TV variety programs; her recital at Camp Fortune, Ottawa, was presented on 'Les Beaux Dimanches' in 1977. At the PDA she gave a recital in May 1976 and a show entitled 'À coeur ouvert' in November 1977, followed by a tour. Diane Juster has since collaborated with the lyricists Eddy Marnay and Luc Plamondon. She has written for such major Quebec performers as Robert Charlebois, Céline Dion, Johanne Blouin, and especially Ginette Reno, for whom she composed 'Je ne suis qu'une chanson' which won the Félix Award for the song of 1980 and which, in 1991, held the title of the best-selling song in Quebec. Juster composed the film music of Jean-Claude's Éclair au chocolat, and of Danièle Suissa's The Morning Man, and the music of Monsieur Amilcar for the Compagnie de danse Eddy Toussaint. She is a founding member of the Société professionnelle des auteurs et compositeurs du Québec (SPACQ).