He is best known as the lyricist who wrote French language songs recorded by folk duo Kate & Anna McGarrigle.
[citation needed] 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.
[1]: 212, 229–230 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[1]: 233–234 As McGarrigle recalled many years later: In late spring of 1973, [...] I wrote a song in French on the accordion about Henri Richard, the Montreal Canadiens's beloved captain, with Richard Baker, a young musician from BC.
[...] The idea was to release it in time for the 1974 hockey playoffs, but we needed another French song for the B-side and I asked Philippe, now back in Montreal, to help me write something.