André "Dédé" Fortin (17 November 1962 – 8 May 2000) was a founding member,

frontman The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

, and vocalist of the Québécois band

Les Colocs Les Colocs (''The Roommates'') were a rock music group from Québec formed in 1990 in Montreal. Profile Founded in 1990 and fronted by Dédé Fortin, ''Les Colocs'' made music in Quebec French. Their sound, infused with brass sounds, was inspi ...

, formed in 1990.

Early life

Fortin was born to Alfred Fortin and Gisèle Tremblay on a farm near the small village of Saint-Thomas-Didyme, in the rural

Lac-Saint-Jean Lac-Saint-Jean () is a federal electoral district in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region, northeast Quebec, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1925 to 2004, and has been represented since 2015. Demographics :' ...

region of Quebec. He was the tenth of eleven children. When he was eight, the family moved to Normandin, but he always valued his childhood home. Fortin attended public schools and studied cinema at the

Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (UdeM; ; translates to University of Montreal) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte-de ...

with his friend Éric Henry.

Les Colocs

Fortin was long interested in music and started writing song lyrics. In 1990, he formed Les Colocs, after meeting Patrick Esposito Di Napoli and a couple of the other band members. The music they wrote, recorded and performed was a

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers suc ...

sound, emerging from Québécois music, with

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

back beats and several other

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

s of music. They released their first album in 1993 to great acclaim. Les Colocs' festive melodies often hid more serious issues which Fortin addressed in his lyrics, such as poverty (''Passe-moé la puck''), loss of community (''La rue principale''), emotional dependence (''Juste une p'tite nuite''), and drug dependence ('' Tassez-vous de d'là''). During this period Fortin was instrumental in the making of several

Félix Award The Félix Award (french: Trophée Félix or Prix Félix) is an award, given by the ''Association du disque, de l'industrie du spectacle québécois'' (ADISQ) on an annual basis to artists working in the music and humor industry in the Canadian p ...

-winning music videos for Les Colocs. Fortin was a passionate believer in and activist for

Quebec sovereignty The Quebec sovereignty movement (french: Mouvement souverainiste du Québec) is a political movement whose objective is to achieve the sovereignty of Quebec, a province of Canada since 1867, including in all matters related to any provision o ...

. He campaigned for the OUI ("Yes") side during the run-up to the 1995 Quebec referendum, and his band Les Colocs performed at partisan meetings. He was deeply affected by the 1994 death due to AIDS-related complications of bandmate and friend Patrick Esposito Di Napoli, and Fortin struggled with depression in the ensuing years. ''Dehors Novembre'' (1998), the last LP from the group, was written and performed with the help of the Diouf brothers, whose background from

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 � ...

added a new element to the band's music. It has become Fortin and the band's most celebrated work, and it won the

for the Rock Album of the Year.

Death and legacy

On 8 May 2000, Fortin died by suicide at his apartment. The day before, the Colocs manager Raymond Paquin had received a poem by Fortin. He published it posthumously in '' La Presse.''''Encyclopedia Of Death''
Agora, Quebec, (French) Several years later, the remaining members of the band recovered a CD with the original song recorded from this poem by Dédé himself; they made their own version, which they released in 2009. For days afterwards, fans left flowers and messages in his memory at his building on Rachel Street, in the

Plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ha ...

neighborhood of

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

. Fortin has been remembered in different ways: * Saint-Thomas-Didyme, where Fortin was born, renamed Rang Saint-Henri as "Chemin Dédé-Fortin" in his honor in 2006."Hommage à André Fortin du groupe musical Les Colocs"
, Saint-Thomas-Dydime *In 2009, a film about Fortin's life, entitled '' Through the Mist (Dédé à travers les brumes)'', was released, starring

Sébastien Ricard Sébastien Ricard (born May 25, 1972) is a Canadian musician and actor from Quebec most noted as a member of the hip hop band Loco Locass. As an actor, he won the Prix Jutra for Best Actor at the 12th Jutra Awards in 2010 for his performance as ...

as Fortin. *The Fondation Andre Dédé Fortin was established to educate about depression and prevent suicides; it has established a 24-hour crisis line and conducts workshops to help people in need."Fondation Dédé Fortin"
Website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fortin, Dede 1962 births French Quebecers Songwriters from Quebec Singers from Quebec French-language singers of Canada Canadian male singer-songwriters Canadian singer-songwriters Université de Montréal alumni Fortin, Andre Suicides by sharp instrument in Canada Suicides in Quebec Canadian folk rock musicians Seppuku from Meiji period to present 20th-century Canadian male singers 2000 suicides Les Colocs members

Early life

Les Colocs

Death and legacy

See also

References