Diane Tell

Diane Tell Biography

Diane Tell (born Diane Fortin) is a Canadian musician, author, composer, singer, producer and director. She was born December 24, 1959 in Quebec City, Quebec to Canadian doctor Michel Fortin and American professor and theologian Gloria Pelettier, whose nationality she took on in her adolescence. She entered conservatory at the age of 4 in 1964 to study violin, followed by classical guitar. She finished her studies in jazz guitar at Montreal's CEGEP de Saint-Laurent. In 1977, she recorded her first of 4 North American albums wherein she wrote all of the songs before moving to France in 1983. In 1981, she was recognized as a "phénomène de l'année" in Quebec. She was the first female artist in Quebec to achieve popular success as both singer & composer. In Paris, she collaborated with other composer such as Françoise Hardy, Boris Bergman, Maryline Desbiolles, Maryse Wolinski and Jérôme Savary. At the beginning of the 1990s, Michel Berger and Luc Plamondon provided her one of the main roles in La Legende de Jimmy directed by Jérôme Savary. Michel Berger died suddenly in August, 1992. The show did not obtain the commercial success it warranted, but the title song was a big hit for Diane Tell. In 1996, she wrote a new album of songs in French & English which she recorded in London. It was at this time, she met Robbie McIntosh, formerly of Pretenders and Wings, a musical collaboration that continues to this day. Since 1988, she has lived in Biarritz in the Basque country. She married Pierre Arostéguy in 2004, owner of the oldest family grocery store in France, la Maison Arostéguy.