Philippe Tatartcheff

Philippe Tatartcheff
Born	Geneva, Switzerland
Origin	Ontario, Canada
Occupation(s)	Poet, songwriter

Philippe Tatartcheff (born in Geneva, Switzerland) is a Canadian poet and songwriter. He is best known as the lyricist who wrote French language songs recorded by folk duo Kate & Anna McGarrigle.

Tatartcheff's family was originally from the Swiss Cantons of Geneva, Vaud, Neuchatel and Fribourg. After moving to Montreal in the early 1950s, they eventually settled in Timmins, Ontario, where his father, Dr. Michael Tatartcheff, was a physician and surgeon, and the town doctor. His grandfather, Dr. Assen Tatartcheff, was a member of the Macedonian Liberation Front IMRE.

Tatartcheff attended a French collège classique in Timmins, then McGill University before leaving for Paris in early 1969, to study for a master's in French literature at the Sorbonne, where he presented a thesis on the subject of Jules Vallès. While at McGill, he met Anna McGarrigle, who was studying at Beaux-Arts at the time (1964-1968).

In 1974, after Tatartcheff's return to Montreal, Anna McGarrigle asked him to help her write a song, which became "Complainte pour Ste. Catherine", featured on the sisters' debut album, Kate & Anna McGarrigle As McGarrigle recalled many years later:

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