Pierre Lapointe is a French-Canadian singer who was born in Lac St.-Jean and grew up in Gatineau, Quebec. Before doing music, he studied in arts, then in theater at the Cégep (college) de Saint-Hyacinthe. He finished his studies in arts in Outaouais, Quebec, and participated in the new contest "Tout nouveau, Tout show" for new musical talents, where he won the composer/singer/songwriter prize. He established himself in Montreal and started studying arts at the Université du Québec à Montréal. In September 2001, Pierre Lapointe participated in the Festival international de la chanson de Granby, where he won three prizes. Lapointe created and presented his own show "Petites chansons laides" in Montreal and Quebec City, and in France -- which were his first songs start to play on radio stations. Critics have been very positive about him and his career. In 2002, he received financing from the Conseil des arts et lettres du Québec to help him record a first commercial disc, and in the summer of 2003, he signed with Audiogram, which allowed him to produce his first disc, "Pierre Lapointe" (2004). It was an instant success. Pierre Lapointe's second album "La forêt des mal-aimés" (2006) was the #1 album in Canada for the first week after its release (28 000 CDs sold), and lifted Lapointe's eponymous first album to #7 in the charts.