Singer, storyteller, songwriter and musician, Edith Butler is also the undisputed pioneer and ambassador of Acadian culture. Dubbed the "Mother of Acadian Music," her discography is rich and original.
An authentic, colorful character, she first made a name for herself on the TV show "Sing Along Jubilee" alongside Anne Murray, and then in the film "Les Acadiens de la Dispersion",In the mid-sixties, she performed at folk festivals in Canada and the United States, alongside Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Pete Seeger.
It was in 1970, during a six-month stay in Japan where she gave hundreds of shows, that she became convinced that she had to pursue this path of song to make known the history of her people, who had been cruelly deported but who had preserved intact through oral tradition the first French-speaking culture in America.
Her career in Quebec, where she has lived ever since, began in 1973 with a debut album released by Columbia: ¨Avant d'être Dépaysée¨. Montreal's Place des Arts was her first springboard on Quebec soil in 1974. In 1977, for the 25th anniversary of Radio-Canada television, her dazzling performance broadcast live from the Moncton Coliseum won her national recognition.
After a highly acclaimed appearance at the Printemps de Bourges festival, France awarded her the Prix de l'Académie Charles Cros for her album "Je m'appelle Édith". That same year, she headlined at the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris. A guest on major TV shows from Jacques Chancel's "Grand Échiquier" to Michel Drucker's "Champs Élysées", she conquered audiences at the legendary Olympia concert hall in Paris in 1985 and 1986.
Her energetic, humorous and generous stage performances earned her the 2009 Governor General's Performing Arts Award of Excellence.
Recipient of three Félix awards, Officer of the Order of Canada, Chevalier de l'ordre du Mérite de la Culture Française, Prix Hommage de la SOCAN, Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres de la République Française Edith Butler was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame for her body of work in 2019, and in 2023 will be awarded the Ordre National du Québec.
Edith Butler is currently pursuing her stage career with a brand-new show entitled Le Tour du Grand Bois, inspired by Lisa Leblanc's album of the same name.