The late Canadian pop singer Marc Hamilton was born in Matane, Quebec on 2 February 1944 and is best known for his international 1970 hit "Comme j'ai toujours envie d'aimer." He cut his teeth in the early 1960s with the Beatles-inspired Francophone band Les Shadols before breaking away to form another band, Les Monstres, in 1965 and began laying the foundations for his solo career with the single "Je n'apprendrai pas le violon." Four years later, he teamed up with his Shadol bandmate Normand Bouchard and released two singles, "Nous avons marché" and "J'irai un jour à Paris." However, his big break came in 1970 with the solo hit "Comme j'ai toujours envie d'aimer," which shot to the top of the French singles chart that September as well as reaching number 1 in Belgium, number 2 in Switzerland and number 14 on the Dutch chart. He kept up some of the momentum on follow-up single "Tapis magique" and in the early 1970s, issued unveiled three albums, a self-titled LP of 1970, Comme j'ai toujours envie d'aimer (also in 1970) and 1972's Au fond des choses. He suffered an accident at work on his property in 1973 that resulted in the loss of his left eye. However, he kept up some of his musical activities, notably programming for the activities of Grand salon de Mascouche, and in the early 1980s, enjoyed some success with releases including the single "Peau de femmes," also issuing three albums: Peau de femmes (1981), J'ai un bon deal (1984), and J'ai un rendez-vous d'amour (1987). It would be nearly ten years before the release of his next album Malgré les murs in 1996 and the follow-up Rétrospective, also released in 1996. The LP Marc Hamilton chante Aznavour was released in 2003, and that same year he attempted suicide by trying to jump from his 11th-storey apartment, but was stopped by his wife. Marc Hamilton slipped into a coma after contracting COVID-19 and died at Saint-Jérôme hospital in Montreal on 17 February 2022.
