Remembering Serge Fiori

July 11, 2025

By Karen Bliss

It is a testament to Serge Fiori’s deep musical influence that Voivod, one of the most pioneering progressive metal groups to also come out Quebec, was so affected by his seminal band Harmonium from the 1970s that they hope to do a run of symphonic tribute shows in 2027, an idea long ruminating before the singer and songwriting icon passed away on June 24.

“Serge Fiori is a symbol of our musical culture in Quebec. He was truly authentic and true to his principles. He brought a lot of light into my life,” Voivod bass player Dominic “Rocky” Laroche tells the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. “I was 16 when I discovered L’Heptade on vinyl at my parents’ house. That day, I was transformed. I asked my mother for a 12-string guitar. Then I spent a long time learning almost all of their songs, and performing them because I just loved them, but also because it [made] my soul feel good. It was a kind of meditation.”

Fiori, who was inducted into The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2019, alongside his Harmonium co-founders Michel Normandeau, Serge Locat and Louis Valois, died at age 73 “in the early hours of this Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day…after a long illness,” his manager and friend of 36 years Serge Grimaux said in a press release, noting, “…the songs he wrote and the harmonies he created will resonate forever.”

Countless tributes poured in from francophone artists of all ages and genres, almost all referring to his profound effect on Quebecers and their personal musical journey.

Pop singer Catherine Major, 45, said, “His music helped shape my own artistic path. These songs are timeless treasures that will never fade,” while country musician Patrick Norman, 78, lauded the legend: “Your songs will forever be etched in the hearts of les Québecois.”

Musician Nelson Minville, 57, wrote “You’re one of the voices that gave us a love for Québec” and singer/musician Bruno Pelletier, 62, revealed, “It’s because of you that I picked up the guitar after playing drums, and that I wanted to start writing in French as a teenager… Your songs will keep living on in all of us.”

Satirical musician Mononc’ Serge, 55, noted, “I listened to Fiori a lot in my younger years, and I still do, regularly. Even if his influence doesn’t come through in my songs, his music, his voice and his sensitivity stayed with me and shaped me deeply,” and singer Mélissa Bédard, 34, said, “I grew up with parents who listened to Harmonium… it’s part of us, part of our DNA…we’ll never stop listening to you.”

Harmonium, which combined folk, rock and jazz, released just three albums after Fiori, Normandeau, and Valois started playing around Montreal in 1973, debuting a year later with an eponymous release, a hit within months.

The group’s 1975 sophomore album, Si on avait besoin d’une cinquième saison, a.k.a. Les Cinq Saisons, was nominated for a Juno Award for Best Selling Album and earned the group a nominated for Group of the Year. The band also toured in the U.K. and Europe with Supertramp and went to California to promote Québec music and culture. In 2015, Les Cinq Saisons was named one of Rolling Stone’s greatest prog rock albums of all time (No. 36).

Their final studio album — and first to go gold — was 1976’s double LP L’Heptade.

Fellow Quebec legend Richard Séguin, inducted earlier this year into the CSHF, collaborated with Fiori in the 70s, releasing the Séguin-Fiori album that was several years in the making, 1978’s Deux cents nuits à l’heure, which sold more than 200,000 copies and earned three awards at the inaugural ADISQ Gala in 1979, Group of the Year, Album of the Year – Singer-Songwriter, and Record of the Year.

Séguin emailed the CSHF a beautiful tribute to his friend in French, translated here in English with his approval:

“Harmonium, in my opinion, was the torchbearer of a decade,” Séguin wrote. “Without resorting to social protest or advocacy, the very tone of its music became synonymous with happenings. In this music, there was a kind of awakening of spiritual rebirth that was then occupying the entire American West Coast. I can’t say even today if L’Heptade was a form of self-portrait of Serge.

“The writing was expansive, filled with symbols and intuition. It was above all Serge’s voice that occupied the foreground, a kind of complaint, vulnerable, completely free in his improvisations. At other times, a strange thing happens when listening to the early albums, just as much as on L’Heptade, even teenagers in 2025 recognize themselves, as if this voice were an echo of their own exile within themselves, a reflection of their psychology filled with a range of inflamed or restrained emotions. There are truly splendid moments in the Heptad.

“The melodic structure is a eulogy to the seven levels of consciousness. It was refined, bordering on folk and 70s alternative music, influenced by the English wave of the time, with haunting, melodic, and captivating choruses, sometimes luminous and sometimes dark, sometimes strange in Serge’s speech and lyrics.

“Once a song is written, it belongs to everyone, so people travel with the words and melodies, and they slowly become little mirrors,” he continued. “I was happy when Serge came along with new songs. His voice hadn’t changed, which is rare, his evocative power was still present. He brought us joy by adding little gems to the cultural treasure trove of French-speaking song. A brother, a friend, a great musician whom we will miss. Thank you, Serge, for everything you gave us.”

After Harmonium and the Fiori-Séguin one-off project, Fiori wrote songs for other acts, like Diane Dufresne, Nanette Workman and stand-up comic Yvon Deschamps, and wrote and sang the theme song for Montreal’s Just for Laughs comedy fest. He put out his debut solo album, simply title Fiori, in 1986, and spent much of the 90s writing for film and TV.

His second solo album, Serge Fiori, came 28 years after his first, in 2014. Another album, Seul ensemble, was released in 2019, a collab with Louis-Jean Cormier featuring rerecordings of his songs for the contemporary circus company Cirque Eloize.

In 2016, Harmonium’s L’Heptade was remixed and remastered to mark its 40th anniversary (L’Heptade XL). The original been certified quadruple platinum, while Harmonium is double platinum and Les cinq saisons platinum. The band has received numerous SOCAN Classic Awards and an honorary Félix, and its songs have been covered by such acts as Les Respectables, Sylvain Cossette, Eleanor McCain, Boom Desjardins, Jorane, and Lawrence Gowan.

James MacLean, manager for Voivoid, which formed in 1982, confirms to the CSHF that the band is in the very early stages of planning “a Voivod/Harmonium show with the conductor Dina Gilbert who did Voivod’s last three symphonic shows. The idea is for the big Quebec outdoor festivals in 2027.”

A state funeral for Fiori will take place on July 15 at 3 p.m., EST at the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier at Place des Arts in Montreal. Condolences can be left for his family here. “Throughout his career, Serge Fiori offered us a body of work that unites us, reflects us, and touches our hearts,” said Premier François Legault in a press statement. “He helped build Quebec’s musical identity; our nation owes him a great deal.”