View source for Cayouche

{{Short description|Canadian country singer (1949–2024)}}
{{Copy edit|date=May 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| background        = person
| name              = Cayouche
| image             = Cayouche.jpg
| caption           = Cayouche in 2018
| image_size        = <!-- Only for images smaller than 220 pixels -->
| birth_name        = Réginald Charles Gagnon
| alias             = Cayouche
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1949|01|07|df=yes}}
| birth_place       = [[Moncton]], [[New Brunswick]], Canada
| death_date        = {{death date and age|2024|05|29|1949|01|07|df=yes}}
| death_place       = [[Maisonnette, New Brunswick]], Canada
| origin            =
| instruments       =
| genre             = [[Country music|Country]], [[Bluegrass music|bluegrass]]
| occupation        = Singer, songwriter
| years_active      = 1994–2024
| label             =
| website           = {{url|cayouche.ca}}
}}
'''Réginald Charles Gagnon''' (7 January 1949 – 29 May 2024), known professionally as '''Cayouche''', was a Canadian singer and songwriter of [[Acadians|Acadian]] descent. Born in [[Moncton]], he is credited with creating [[Acadian French]] [[country music]].
== Early life ==
Réginald Charles Gagnon was born in [[Moncton]], New Brunswick on 7 January 1949.<ref name="LaPresse-obit">{{cite news |date=29 May 2024 |title=Le chanteur acadien Cayouche meurt à l'âge de 75 ans |url=https://www.lapresse.ca/arts/musique/2024-05-29/le-chanteur-acadien-cayouche-meurt-a-l-age-de-75-ans.php |access-date=29 May 2024 |work=[[La Presse (Canadian newspaper)|La Presse]] |language=fr-CA}}</ref><ref name="birth-cbcradio">{{cite web |last1=Villeneuve |first1=Alix |title=25 Years Later, Cayouche is still going |url=https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1465911/cayouche-roule-bingo-gerant-musique-acadien |website=Radio-Canada |publisher=CBC Radio Canada |accessdate=1 April 2020}}</ref> When he was 13 years old, Gagnon moved with his mother to the [[suburb]]s of [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Mousseau |first1=Sylvie |title=Cayouche, le vieux hippie acadien, est décédé à l'âge de 75 ans |url=https://www.acadienouvelle.com/arts-et-spectacles/2024/05/29/cayouche-le-vieux-hippie-acadien-est-decede/ |access-date=29 May 2024 |work=[[L'Acadie Nouvelle]] |date=29 May 2024 |language=fr-FR}}</ref> At the age of 19, he joined the [[United States Marine Corps]] and served in the [[Vietnam War]], though he never saw combat.<ref name="voir">Claude Côté, ''Cow-boy de l'Est'', dans ''[[Voir (journal)|Voir]]'', [[Montréal]], 3 février 2000, {{p.|34}}.</ref><ref>Jacques Beaumier, ''Cayouche: l'Acadie qui ne marche pas tout le temps'', dans ''Vent'd'est'', no. 82, Bathurst, N.-B., janvier 1999, {{p.|23}}.</ref> Following his time in the US military, Gagnon returned to [[Leominster, Massachusetts]], where he married and had two sons: Joshua Paul (born 1972) and Jason Charles (born 1973). In 1979, Gagnon returned to Canada with only his backpack and a guitar, which became the first step in his country-folk music career.
== Career ==
Gagnon's performance [[moniker]] Cayouche stems from the US, where he says that people would tell him "You're not Acadian, you're Acayouche." "Acayouche" later became "Cayouche."
Even before the release of his first album, a Radio-Canada team had noticed that Cayouche was already popular in the Acadian Peninsula and even after the passing of 25 years, most people in the Acadian Peninsula know of Cayouche.<ref name="birth-cbcradio"/> His first album, ''Un Vieux Hippy'', released in 1994'','' sold more than 15,000 copies in a fairly small market, and songs such as "La chaîne de mon Tracteur", "Export A", and "L'alcool au volant" attained relative popularity.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cayouche Un Vieux Hippy |url=https://www.plages.net/?c=album&id=59 |website=Plages |publisher=Plages Distribution |accessdate=1 April 2020}}</ref>
Cayouche maintained constant popularity throughout Canada and Europe and remains among the few popular Acadian artists in history to have sold over 100,000 albums.<ref>{{cite web |title="Old Hippy" singer Cayouche to perform in Abram-Village May 21 |url=http://www.rdeeipe.net/english/press-releases/cayouche-abram-village/ |website=RDEE |publisher=RDÉE Île-du-Prince-Édouard |accessdate=1 April 2020}}</ref>
Among his biggest hits are "Export A", "La chaine de mon tracteur", "L’alcool au volant", "Fume Fume", "C’est ça mon Acadie", and "La reine du bingo". Gagnon, who later came to live in [[Maisonnette, New Brunswick|Maisonnette]] on the [[Acadian Peninsula]], was the subject of the documentary film ''Cayouche: Le Temps d'une bière'' (English: ''Cayouche: Time for a beer'') by Maurice André Aubin in 2009.<ref>{{cite web |title="Old Hippy" singer Cayouche to perform in Abram-Village May 21 |url=http://www.rdeeipe.net/english/press-releases/cayouche-abram-village/ |website=RDEE |publisher=RDÉE Île-du-Prince-Édouard |accessdate=1 April 2020}}</ref>
== Personal life and death ==
Gagnon [[motorcycling|motorcycled]] as a hobby. One of his songs, "L'Alcool au volant" (Drinking and driving), was created to warn others of [[drunk driving]]; in 2008, Gagnon was stopped by a Codiac [[RCMP]] officer and arrested and shortly released afterwards.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Babstock |first1=Craig |title=Cayouche charged with drunk driving; Moncton-born Acadian singer to stand trial in November |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/422974818 |access-date=29 May 2024 |work=[[Times & Transcript]] |date=25 July 2008|id={{ProQuest|422974818}} }}</ref> The following year, he received charges of [[Impaired driving in Canada|impaired driving]] and driving with [[blood alcohol content]] over the legal limit, receiving a $2,000 fine for the incident.<ref>{{cite news |title=Cayouche fined for driving offence; Crown withdraws impaired charges laid against Acadian singer |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/423013348 |access-date=29 May 2024 |work=[[Times & Transcript]] |date=16 April 2009|id={{ProQuest|423013348}} }}</ref>
Gagnon died from cancer in Maisonnette, on 29 May 2024, at the age of 75.<ref name="radiocanada-death">{{Cite web |last=ICI.Radio-Canada.ca |date=29 May 2024 |title=Le « vieux hippy » Cayouche meurt à l'âge de 75 ans |url=https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2075924/cayouche-mort-acadie-country-albums |access-date=29 May 2024 |website=[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|Radio-Canada]] |language=fr-ca}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Dufour |first=Melbourne |date=29 May 2024 |title=Le chanteur Cayouche n'est plus |url=https://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2024/05/29/le-chanteur-cayouche-nest-plus |access-date=29 May 2024 |website=[[TVA Nouvelles]]}}</ref>
== Discography ==
* ''Un Vieux Hippy'' (1994)
* ''Moitié-moitié'' (1996)
* ''Roule, roule'' (1999)
* ''Last Call'' (2003)
* ''Le rappel'' (2011)
* ''Les Meilleures Tounes'' (2019)<ref>{{cite web |title=Cayouche |url=https://www.discogs.com/artist/4493402-Cayouche |website=Discogs |accessdate=1 April 2020}}</ref>
== Filmography ==
* ''Cayouche, Le Temps d'une bière'' (2009)<ref>{{cite web |title=Cayouche Le temps d'une bière |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4464474/?ref_=nm_knf_t2 |website=IMDB |accessdate=1 April 2020}}</ref>
* ''Pour l'amour du country'' (2001–2012)<ref>{{cite web |title=Pour l'amour du country |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9058222/?ref_=nm_knf_t1 |website=IMDB |accessdate=1 April 2020}}</ref>
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
== External links ==
* [https://cayouche.ca/ Official website]
* {{discogs artist|Cayouche}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:1949 births]]
[[Category:2024 deaths]]
[[Category:Musicians from Moncton]]
[[Category:Acadian musicians]]
[[Category:French-language singers of Canada]]
[[Category:Canadian country singer-songwriters]]
[[Category:Canadian expatriates in the United States]]
[[Category:Singers from New Brunswick]]
[[Category:People from Gloucester County, New Brunswick]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in New Brunswick]]