Diane Tell

Early Life and Education

Diane Tell was born to an American mother and a Québécois father, and originally went by her birth name, Diane Fortin. When she was still quite young, her family moved to Paris so her father could finish his surgical training. The family ultimately settled in Val-d’Or, Quebec. She has two brothers. In her youth, Tell studied violin at the prestigious Conservatoire de musique de Val-d’Or, which she entered at age six. (See also Conservatoire de musique du Québec.)

A precocious child, Tell wrote her first song at the age of 12. It was during her teenage years that she also developed her lifelong interest in photography, a hobby that later evolved to include videography.

In the late 1960s, Tell’s mother decided that Diane should continue her studies in Montreal, which her mother believed to have better schools. Diane was also planning a change — she traded in her violin for a guitar, in keeping with the advent of guitar-driven popular music in the 1960s. To enter the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, she had to take private lessons to catch up with the other students. It was at this time that she learned classical guitar.

Many years later, Diane Tell auditioned for the music school at Cégep de Saint-Laurent. Though she had prepared to audition as a classical guitarist, she noticed the long line of prospective students hoping to audition for Professor Sam Balderman, who taught jazz and electric guitar. Despite not having the right training or instrument, Diane auditioned for Balderman, who initially told her she was at the wrong place. Despite this, Tell was already convinced she wanted to make an important change in her musical direction.

Early Career

Early in her career, Diane Tell hosted radio shows on influential Montreal radio station CKOI. In her teen years, she took classes during the week and performed on the weekends. Her father helped her buy equipment, her mother helped make her outfits and her brothers occasionally accompanied her to the bars where she sang. Some of Tell’s earliest performances included opening for major rock and pop artists of the day, including Leo Sayer, Rick Derringer and Chris de Burgh. She was a regular performer in the bars of Montreal’s West End prior to producing her self-titled debut album in 1977. Tell had composed about 50 original songs between the age of 12 and the release of her first album.

Career Highlights

Diane Tell’s sound was unique for a female singer in the Quebec music scene of the 1970s, as she departed from the folk-inspired sound and political messages of an earlier generation. Tell’s lyrics were romantic and her sound more cosmopolitan, with a basis in jazz and inspired in part by Latin American music. (Many have compared her sound to “yacht rock” bands such as the Doobie Brothers.) In the late 1970s, between the release of her first and second albums, Tell spent a year living in New York City.

Tell’s career took off in the early 1980s. In 1980, she represented Quebec at the Festival International de la Chanson Française in Spa, Belgium, where she presented two songs and was the only female participant. She soon began winning major awards in Quebec and France. Her third album, En flèche (1980), spawned several hits and sold 175,000 copies. Tell soon began performing with the Québécois jazz-fusion group UZEB, which added to the uniqueness of her live shows. During this time, her performances drew larger and larger audiences, selling out such major Montreal venues as the Montreal Forum and Théâtre St-Denis.

In 1990, Tell was chosen to co-star in the rock opera La Légende de Jimmy — a musical about the life of American actor James Dean — by Luc Plamondon and Michel Berger, creators of the hit rock opera Starmania. The musical premiered in 1990 at the Théâtre Mogador in Paris. In 1991, Tell once again took on a leading acting role, this time in the musical Marilyn Montreuil. Tell composed original songs for the musical and portrayed Marilyn. The musical was performed at the Théâtre National de Chaillot in Paris.

In the 1990s, Diana Tell was signed to Sony Music, along with Céline Dion, and had access to considerable recording budgets. The Marilyn Montreuil original album was mixed at Prince’s Paisley Park recording studio in Minneapolis. Tell also lived in London for six months and collaborated with many leading figures in the music industry. It was also during this decade that Tell learned to fly and began making regular humanitarian trips to Africa in support of ASI (Actions de Solidarité Internationale). While living in London, Tell recorded four songs in English — the only work of hers in the English language.

From 2018 to 2023, Tell sat on the board of SOCAN — the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada. As of March 2026, Tell was still touring and recording. Her album, Polissonne, was set to be released later that year, and she had tour dates confirmed from October 2026 through April 2027. She is also reportedly working on the development of a lingerie collection.

Personal Life

Diane Tell has lived in Europe since she was 25 years old and in Switzerland since around 2014. She and director Jérôme Savary, who directed La Légende de Jimmy and Marilyn Montreuil, were in a relationship and lived together in the 1990s, though they were never married. From 2004 to 2017, Tell was married to Pierre Arostéguy, a businessman who owned a grocery store in Biarritz, France.

Honours

Diane Tell won seven Félix Awards before the age of 25. In 2017, the Swiss canton of Valais honoured her with their Étoile du Valais award. That same year, Tell’s signature song, “Si j’étais un homme” (If I Was a Man), was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. She was personally inducted in September 2024.

Awards

Félix Awards

• Best New Artist (1980)
• Best Album (Entre Nous) (1980)
• Best Singer Songwriter (1980, 1981)
• Best Song (“Si j'étais un homme”) (1981)
• Best Album (En Flèche) (1981)
• Best Female Artist (1981)

Others

• Performer of the Year, MIDEMAwards (1982)
• Best Francophone Album (Faire à nouveau connaissance), Victoire de la musique(1986)
• Prix Robert Charlebois for international influence, SPACQ (2015)
• Inductee (“Si j'étais un homme”), Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame(2017)
• Inductee, Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame (2024)

Discography

• Diane Tell (1977)
• Entre nous (1979)
• En flèche (1980)
• Chimères (1982)
• On a besoin d’amour (1984)
• Faire à nouveau connaissance (1986)
• Dégriffe-moi (1988)
• Marilyn Montreuil (1991)
• Désir Plaisir Soupir (1996)
• Popeline (2005)
• Docteur Boris & Mister Vian (2009)
• Rideaux ouverts (2011)
• Une (2013)
• Haïku (2019)
• Polissonne (2026)