Singer, television host.
Born at St. Vital on 29 July 1940, son of Dona Hilda Ducharme (1923-2009) and Simon Adrien St. Germain (1914-1995), he was drawn to music at an early age and began performing in the mid-1950s. He would later perform with the likes of Johnny Cash and Kenny Rogers, and he hosted Big Sky Country, a nationally syndicated television program that was broadcast for 13 years. He wrote an autobiography entitled I Wanted to be Elvis, So What Was I Doing in Moose Jaw? (2005).
He was a Liberal candidate for the Winnipeg Centre constituency in the 2006 federal general election but was defeated by NDP candidate Pat Martin.
In recognition of his community service, he received a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012); was inducted into the Aboriginal Order of Canada (1985), Manitoba Aboriginal Music Hall of Fame (2005), Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame (2010), and Order of Manitoba (2013); and he had a street in Winnipeg named in his honour (2024).
He died at the Deer Lodge Centre on 25 June 2024.
Marriage registration [Simon Adrien St Germain, Hilda Ducharme], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Obituary [Simon Adrien St. Germain], Winnipeg Free Press, 6 February 1995, page 14.
Obituary [Dona Hilda St. Germain], Winnipeg Free Press, 11 February 2009.
“Country music legend and Métis icon Ray St. Germain has died” by Darren Bernhardt, CBC News, 26 June 2024.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 29 June 2024.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 29 June 2024
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