Jean-Marie Deschênes was born on 2 August 1946 in Saint-Octave-de-l'Avenir, a village founded in 1932 near the Chic-Choc Mountains in Gaspésie and closed in 1971[1][2] by the government of Robert Bourassa.

An author, composer and organist, he performed in Gaspésie, in the Magdalen Islands and in New Brunswick before playing for artists including Édith Butler, Angèle Arsenault, and Jacques Michel [fr].

Then he travelled around Gaspésie, the Magdalen Islands and New Brunswick as an organist and pianist, performing for himself and for others, singing poems for which he had composed the music, and songs by others like Claude Léveillée.

He was known in Prince Edward Island for playing the organ at the famous Père Galant lobster dinners in St-Ann's and for participating in radio and television shows on Radio-Canada, the French-language national broadcasting network.

By the end of the sixties, he had accompanied artists like Danielle Oddera, Aimé Major [fr], Raymond Breau, and Calixte Duguay, and had written and performed with Edith Butler and Angèle Arsenault, with whom he collaborated for many years.

He performed on stage as a pianist for Édith Butler and Angèle Arsenault in French-language communities across Canada, in Europe and the United States and began writing for them and for others like Denis Losier, Donat Lacroix [fr], Calixte Duguay, Raymond Breau, Isabelle Aubret and Gérard Entremont.

He spent many months with Daniel Lavoie in the studio with first Jean-Jacques Bourdeau and later with John Eden, producer of the British version of Der Kommissar.

His influence on the album and the use of musical instruments that were uncommon at the time, like the LinnDrum, earned him a reputation and invitations to participate in projects in England, which he declined, not wanting to be branded by a particular style.

In 1993, Isabelle Boulay won the Truffe d'Or and a festival in Périgueux with the song Les canards (later named Il fallait pas).

They worked together to record her first album Fallait Pas, a selection of covers (Un peu d'innocence, T'es en amour, Qu'ils s'envolent, Et mon cœur en prend plein la gueule, Il fallait pas) and new songs (La Vie devant toi, J'enrage, Sur le tapis vert, Pour demain, pour hier, Un monde à refaire) all by DeShaime.

In 2006, asked by the owner of the Château du Rivau, he composes variations based on an old folkloric theme from France J'ai descendu dans mon jardin.

In 2009, he began writing in collaboration with the authors Georges Guy and Réjean Bernier a book, St-Octave-de-l'Avenir, 1932-1971..., dedicated to the memory of the inhabitants of the village that closed in 1971.

For the festivities of the 2012 edition of the Fête des bois flottés of Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, he arranged Lisette, fais-moi un bouquet, a song from the Canadian Romancero.

Two years later, he reprised this concert under the name Les Noëls de mon enfance in Rimouski, Val-Brillant and Cap-Chat with voices from Haute-Gaspésie and from the Matapedia Valley.

DeShaime produced the song Le 31 de Février in 2013 from lyrics written by Sylvain Rivière and music by Lawrence Lepage [fr], who died in December 2012.