Sylvia LeLievre

Cape Breton

Cheticamp native Sylvia LeLievre plays six and twelve string guitar and bass. She started playing at age 13, singing old French traditional songs that she learned from her parents. It was the folk era, so she was also playing the music of Gordon Lightfoot, John Denver, Simon and Garfunkel, Ian and Sylvia, and others.

Like so many of her generation, Beatlemania inspired Sylvia, and with her brother Clarence, and Simon Joe Larade and Marcel Lefort, they formed a rock ’n’ roll band called the Phantoms. The Phantoms played in and around Cheticamp for the better part of 30 years.

Le Groupe LeLievre was formed with two of her brothers, Clarence and Roland, and their cousin, Ron Bourgeois, in 1980. They sang French traditional songs and Bourgeois’ compositions. And when country music became very popular a couple of years later, they put together the Rosewood Band that incorporated the rock sound of the Phantoms with the country sound of Marcel Aucoin.

Since 1989, Sylvia’s been writing some of her own compositions and performing as a solo artist, accompanied by her brothers or other local musicians, playing most summers at the outdoor concerts at Cape Breton Highlands National Park. She also promotes French and Cape Breton culture by singing for bus tours.

In 1993, Sylvia’s song “J t’appartiens” won first prize in Societe Radio Canada’s Le Gala de la Chanson de la Nouvelle Ecosse. As a result, she recorded two songs for French radio and the response encouraged her to put together a full length CD. With the help of the local radio station CKJM, Sylvia recorded Avec Amitié in 1997, composed of eight original and four traditional French songs. In 1998, the CD won the Gonzaque prize given by Le Conseil Culturel de la Nouvelle Ecosse in recognition of quality Acadien work. Since then Sylvia has been performing her own material throughout New Brunswick and the local area.