Leotards - Suicide Lover b/w Runaway Bridge

Tracks

Side 1

		Track Name	Length
	1	Suicide Lover	03:15

Side 2

		Track Name	Length
	1	Runaway Bridge

Photos

Videos

Information/Write-up

Montreal’s The Leotards were a queer-glam electro-punk anomaly in early ’80s Quebec—a time when the province was still drifting out of its folk-rock era and only just beginning to digest imported new wave. That made Suicide Lover, their one and only 45, not just ahead of its time but borderline radioactive.

The band formed in 1980 as a creative alliance between Yvan Lejeune (bass, vocals) and Robert “Bob Side” Côté (guitar, vocals), both veterans of the local prog and disco circuits. Rounding out the lineup were Bernard “Bingo” Deslauriers (drums) and Robert Lauzon (keyboards). Their sound: taut, synth-stained, and nervy, but with a twisted lyrical edge that still startles.

“Suicide Lover” is the A-side that earned them a cult legacy: a sleazy, subversive groove telling a story of gay prostitution, seduction, and a sudden police sting—backed by fat synths and punky panache. The B-side, “Runaway Bridge,” is a darker, more atmospheric cut that reveals their roots in prog and euro rock.

Unbelievably, this record was backed by Yvan’s father, André Lejeune—not just a Quebec chanson star but also a rock’n’roll pioneer in his own right, having released French-language rock tracks as far back as 1957. To protect his folk label Colibri from looking too neon, Lejeune Sr. created a new sublabel just for the single: Fluo. Both English (FL-100) and French (FL-101) editions of the 45 were issued in October 1980, though only the English version got airplay.

The Leotards seemed poised for a breakthrough. They appeared on two major Quebec TV shows—Et Ça Tourne and Jeunesse Express—and scheduled a provincial tour. But fate had other plans. In January 1981, CHOM-FM pitted “Suicide Lover” against Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight” in a call-in competition. Collins won. The tour was cancelled, the record vanished, and the band quietly dissolved.

Lejeune and Côté soon reformed as The Hubcaps, veering into a more accessible pop/new wave hybrid and releasing four singles and an LP. Deslauriers became a session player with artists like Luba, Renée Martel, and Michel Louvain.

Fast forward nearly 40 years: while digitizing old tapes from the estate of André Lejeune, archivist Martin Lamontagne discovered forgotten TV performances by The Leotards. He alerted collectors Pascal Pilote and Sébastien Desrosiers, who tracked down the band and uncovered not only the story—but also 120 unsold original copies of the 45, still in Bob Side’s possession. The rediscovery led to a Record Store Day 2019 relaunch by the new boutique label Trésor National, complete with reprinted sleeves, new art, and band history.

The Leotards were barely noticed in 1980—but in 2019, they became an unlikely symbol of Quebec’s new wave underground: bold, strange, and gloriously out of place.

Special thanks to CBC’s Félix B. Desfossés, Pascal Pilote, Martin Lamontagne, and Sébastien Desrosiers of MondoPQ for preserving and reviving this lost gem.
-Robert Williston

Yvan Lejeune: bass, vocals
Robert “Bob Side” Côté: guitar, vocals
Robert Lauzon: keyboards
Bernard “Bingo” Deslauriers: drums

Composed and written by Robert Côté and Yvan Lejeune

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