Béatrice Mireille Martin, better known by her stage name Cœur de pirate (Pirate’s Heart), is a Canadian singer-songwriter and pianist. Born in the province of Quebec, Martin started playing the piano when she was only three years old. She entered the Conservatoire de musique du Quebec a Montreal at age nine and studied there for five years. At age 15, she played as a keyboardist in the post-hardcore band December Strikes First, which starred her best friend, Francis, who would later become the subject of the song “Francis” on her debut album. Martin had a brief stint as keyboardist for Bonjour Brumaire from late 2007 to April 2008.
In a report broadcast on French television, Martin explained that she chose the name “Cœur de pirate” to appear not “as an isolated musician, but to get a band identity from the start”. She initially called herself Her Pirate Heart, but translated the name to French when she stopped writing songs in English. She released her debut album Coeur de pirate in September 2008, on Grosse Boite. Described as “rather simple” musically, it mostly featured her voice and piano playing along with some minor additional instrumentation.
In February 2009, Martin attracted wider media attention when a photographer from Quebec City, Francis Vachon, used the song “Ensemble” as the soundtrack to a viral video on YouTube entitled “Time lapse of a baby playing with his toys”, leading to coverage on Good Morning America, The Globe and Mail, and elsewhere. In March 2009, Martin released a song in English, “One for Me”, under the name Pearls on MySpace. In a later interview she described the project as a joke and said she did not plan to continue it, though she did not rule out the possibility of releasing music in English at a later date. In June 2009, she made a special appearance on CBC Radio’s radio show. She performed her single “Ensemble” and a new song, “Place de la République”.
In March 2011, Martin revealed via her Facebook page that she was to return to the studio to commence work on her second album the following day. Her second album, Blonde, was released in November 2011, in both digital and hard copy versions. “Adieu” and “Golden Baby” were released as singles from this LP. After announcing her pregnancy in February 2012, Martin stopped touring during the second half of the year and gave birth to a daughter in September. In early 2013, Martin returned from her hiatus with a music video for “Place de la République”, the first for which she acted as director, and an international tour beginning in March.
In April 2015, she released the single “Carry On” in both English and French. Both versions of the song appeared on her album, titled Roses. The music video for it was filmed in the Ruins of St Raphael’s Church, South Glengarry, Ontario. In June 2018, she released the album En cas de tempete, ce jardin sera ferme, her fourth album which also marks the tenth anniversary of her career. In April 30, she released Perseides, her fifth album.
