Although his first language is English,[2] he was born in Greenfield Park, Quebec (now a borough of the city of Longueuil), and was raised and educated in the French-speaking area of Bay of Chaleur (Gaspé Peninsula) in the municipality of Nouvelle during his childhood and attended high school at the École Antoine-Bernard in Carleton-sur-Mer.

In 1993, Parent participated in a songwriting competition, and was consequently signed to Tacca Musique shortly thereafter.

Hit singles "Nomade sedentaire", "Seigneur" and "Boomerang", made Parent become well known in Quebec music in the 1990s, winning a number of Felix Awards in the province and touring on both sides of the Atlantic.

His follow-up albums, Les Vents ont changé (2001) and Retrouvailles (2003), which featured collaborations with Claire Pelletier, Catherine Durand, among others, both achieved multi-platinum status and earned him Juno Award nominations (including a win for the best selling Francophone album of 2002) and Felix Awards.

[citation needed] In 2015 he appeared in and narrated the documentary film L'Or du golfe.