Béatrice Martin (born September 22, 1989), better known by her stage name Cœur de pirate (French: pirate heart) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. In a report broadcast on the French second public channel, she explained she "chose such a name not to appear as an isolated musician, but to get a band identity from the start."
She started playing the piano when she was only three years old, and later, at the age of 15, she played as a keyboardist in the post-hardcore band December Strikes First which starred her best friend, Francis, who would later become the subject of one of the pieces of her debut album. After a brief stint as keyboardist for Bonjour Brumaire, she released her debut album Cœur de pirate in 2008 on Grosse Boîte. The album was subsequently nominated for Francophone Album of the Year at the 2009 Juno Awards.
She attracted wider media attention in February 2009 when Francis Vachon, a photographer from Quebec City, used her song "Ensemble" as the soundtrack to a popular YouTube video depicting his baby son playing with toys, leading to coverage on Good Morning America.
In March 2009, Martin started an English side-project called Pearls, but hasn't taken it any further since then. She was seen performing with Jay Malinowski in May 2010 on Q, and talked about collaborating with him in the future.
In June 2009, she made a special appearance of CBC Radio's Q radio show with Jian Ghomeshi. She performed her single "Ensemble" and a new song, titled "Place de la république".
Until 2010, she sang in French exclusively. Also in 2010, Cœur de pirate was featured in "Brutal Hearts", a song from the Bedouin Soundclash album Light the Horizon (her first song in English), and she contributed a new song, "La Reine", to the 2010 edition of CBC Radio 2's Great Canadian Song Quest. Martin, Bedouin Soundclash's Jay Malinowski and several members of the American rock band The Bronx subsequently collaborated on a five-song EP under the band name Armistice, which was released on February 15, 2011.
On March 27, 2011, Cœur de pirate revealed via her Facebook page that she was to return to the studio to commence work on her second album the following day. She confirmed on September 12, 2011 that her next album, titled Blonde, would be released November 7, 2011 in both digital and hard copy versions. "Adieu" and "Golden Baby" were released as singles from this LP, with a video for "Place de la république" following in January 2013. This is the first video in which Martin has taken the role of director.