VALÉRIE CLIO

Valérie Clio has been a fixture on Quebec's artistic scene for several years. Born in Montreal to Haitian parents, she has called the Quebec City region her home for over 25 years. Her love for music and singing began at the age of 12 in the Gospel choir of her family church in Brooklyn, New York. Valérie Clio has already accumulated over 30 years of career.

 

In 2005, she founded the Blues Band "Clio & The Blues Highway." This band released her first album, "My First Blues," in 2009. With this project, Valérie Clio earned prestigious accolades. She received two Lys Blues awards, "Emerging Artist" in 2009 and "Revelation Group" in 2010. In 2010, she was nominated for the Maple Blues Awards in the "Female Artist of the Year" category.

 

Playing with finesse between French and English, the artist released a first French-language album entitled "L'autre nous" in 2015. The two singles "Mieux que parfait" and "Quelque'un m'a dit" stand out.

 

From this, a collaboration was born that marked a turning point in Valérie Clio's music. She wrote almost all the lyrics and collaborated with Guillaume Tondreau, giving her carte blanche. He composed with her and handled the mixing, mastering, and most of the production aspects of this album. Together, they present "the Valérie Clio sound."

 

In 2020, Valérie Clio released an EP entitled "Court-métrage." Her new repertoire of gentle songs is filled with love and hope. Clio quickly received the approval of the Folk elite as well as the Cercles d'écriture de la Ville de Québec. The piece "Court-métrage" draws a sound image that masterfully accompanies Valérie Clio's contralto voice. As for "Assise sur un banc," we can grasp the accuracy of her pen and the artist's greatness as a performer. Words have become her musical instruments. The light of this EP earned her the "Honneur et Mérite" award from the Haitian Association of Quebec.

 

An award that recognizes her contribution to the richness of cultural diversity in Quebec. On February 20, 2024, the album "Le mouvement" was released, a colossal 14-piece project. She still wrote the majority of the lyrics with her partner Guillaume Tondreau, who also arranged and produced the album. The most committed, sensitive to feminism, racism, the stigmatization of genders, races, and differences, this album carries these themes dressed in Jazz, Blues, Pop, Hip-Hop, Folk, and Haitian root music. Valérie Clio highlights here a mixed identity that has existed for over 50 years in Quebec. The movement honors this identity in an inclusive manner, with love and delicacy. "It's about my own blackness: Le mouvement, c'est Ma liberté, on Des milles, by une Belle poupée et son Avatar." This was followed by two nominations at GAMIQ 2024: Album of the Year in the R&B Soul category and “DIY Self-Produced Music Video of the Year” with “Belle Poupée”.

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Valérie Clio has also been a spokesperson, mentor, and trainer for the Échelon project for the past two years.