Martin was born on 22 September 1989 in Outremont, Quebec, Canada. By age three she had undertaken piano performance, which in large part was stimulated by her mother, who was a professional pianist. When she was nine years old she attended the Conservatorie de musique du Quebec a Montreal, remaining there for five years. Almost directly after her departure from the school she joined the post-hardcore group December Strikes First, assuming the role of keyboardist. After the groups break up she joined the indie pop band Bonjour Brumaire in 2007, but stayed with them only until April 2008.
Just a little over a year later Martin released her self-titled studio debut. The album was released through the label Grosse Boite and charted in Canada, France, Switzerland, and Belgium. Two versions of this album were released. The Canadian version contained the song “Pour un infidele”, featuring a duet with Quebec pop artist Jimmy Hunt and the French release included a version of that track featuring the French folk-rock singer/songwriter Julien Dore. This album was nominated for both the Francophone Album of the Year and the 2009 Polaris Music Prize. It was also a success in the States garnering praise from Paris Hilton and receiving coverage on the popular TV show “Good Morning America”.
Martin followed her debut album with several singles such as “One for Me” (one of her 1st singles in English) and “Place de la republique”. In 2009 and 2010 she made an appearance on the CBC Radio Show, Q. On her 2010 appearance she was accompanied by Jay Malinowski (frontman of indie reggae group Bedouin Soundclash). Martin continued her collaborations with Malinowski appearing on the Bedouin Soundclash song “Brutal Hearts” as well as forming a side project with him called Armistice. This group also featured members of the punk rock outfit the Bronx and their 5 track EP rose to No.11 on the Canadian Album Charts.
On 7 november 2011 Martin released her 2nd studio album “Blonde” to widespread acclaim. This release is heavily indebted to retro pop and channelled influences ranging from styles such as surf rock and ye-ye and artists like Serge Gainsbourg, Nancy Sinatra and the Zombies . The album proved to be both a critical and commercial success topping the charts in Quebec, entering at No. 5 in France and No. 2 in the French section of Belgium and was nominated for the Juno and Polaris Awards.
Martin took a hiatus from her career for the greater part of 2012 in order to prepare for the birth of her daughter, Romy. By early 2013 she composed the music for the TV series “Trauma”, which saw release in 2014 as was the Ubisoft video game soundtrack “Child of Light” to which she also contributed.
Coeur De Pirate is one of very few foreign language speakers to manage to make waves amongst English speaking audiences. Although she didn’t enjoy massive mainstream commercial success with her debut self titled album in 2008, amongst independent music fans her minimalist, sweetly piano-accompanied ballads were widely appreciated and adored by many.
Melancholy sounding tracks such as “Fondu au Noir” and “Francis” wouldn’t be out of place on something like Yann Teirsen’s soundtrack to the French cult film, ‘Amélie.’ Having said this, Coeur De Pirate, whose real name is Béatrice Martin, comes from Montreal and so this French-Canadian singer and songwriter has much less of a heavily accordion-influenced sound than Tiersen! The peak of her widespread recognition came in the form of her song, “Ensemble” being used as the soundtrack for photographer Francis Vachon’s viral video, "Time lapse of a baby playing with his toys:" which should tell you a little something about the naïve and innocent tone of her tracks. This simple and wide-eyed element is not lost on Coeur De Pirate’s live performances. Always interacting well with her audiences, both in French and English, and smiling shyly along the way, Coeur De Pirate reflects the innocent nature of her songs in her modest but effortlessly precise renditions of her recorded tracks. Add into the mix a few covers such as Ben E. Strong’s “Stand By Me” and The Weeknd’s “Wicked Games” and you’ve got a sweetly satisfying and varied live show!
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