Biography
Zachary Richard began his musical career at the age of 8, as soprano in the Bishop's Boys Choir at Saint John’s Cathedral in Lafayette, Louisiana. He attended Cathedral High School and Tulane University, graduating summa cum laude in 1972.
Richard has recorded Cajun and zydeco music for over 35 years. He has recorded sixteen studio albums of which five were declared gold albums in Canada with a double platinum (Cap Enragé). Although recording in both English and French, Richard’s career has been notably Francophone. He has been awarded 5 Prix Félix (Quebec music award named after Félix Leclerc). He is an Officer in the Ordre des Arts et Lettres de la République Française and a member of the Ordre des Francophones d’Amérique. In 1980, he was awarded the Prix de la Jeune Chanson Française by the French Minister of Culture.
In addition to his musical works, Richard published works include 3 volumes of poetry and 3 children’s books. Faire Récolte earned the Prix Champlain (Quebec) in 1998 and Feu received the Roland Gasparic Award (Bucharest, Romania) in 2002.
Richard has collaborated on several television documentary projects including Against the Tide, the Story of the Cajun people of Louisiana (producer and music director) which received the Best Historical Documentary prize in 2000 awarded by the National Educational Television Association. The French version, Contre vents, contre marées received the Prix Historia the following year. Zachary was narrator and musical director of Migrations", Vu du Large, Coeurs Batailleurs and most recently Kouchibouguac, l’histoire de Jackie Vautour et des Expropriés.
A lifelong resident of the Acadiana region of south Louisiana, Richard is a committed to the protection of the natural environment. In collaboration with the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, he participated in the television documentary Labranche, Legacy of the Lost. A founding member of Action Cadienne, Richard remains committed to the preservation and promotion of the French language of Louisiana.
In 2009, he was made an honorary Member of the Order of Canada "for his contributions as an author, composer, singer and poet, and for his important role in defending and promoting the French language and the "Cadian" and Acadian identity".
In August 2010, following the 2010 Haiti earthquake and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Zachary Richard released an album titled Le grand gosier featuring a hip-hop version of "Le grand gosier" by singer-songwriter Rocky McKeon using the original chorus in Louisiana French and adding verses by Samian in French and Emrical in Haitian Creole. The chorus was performed by Zachary Richard, Rocky McKeon and a slew of well-known Canadian francophone artists, notably Bobby Bazini, Daniel Lavoie, Marc Hervieux, Richard Séguin and Luc de Larochellière. The album also includes a version of "Le grand gosier" with verses solely in Algonquin, and another version with verses solely in Haitian Creole.
Richard suffered a stroke on October 17, 2010, leading him to suspend work and appearances for the rest of that year. He has since resumed touring, recording, and writing on his blog.
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