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Les Colocs | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Genres | Rock, blues, swing, Senegalese music |
| Years active | 1990–2000 |
| Labels | BMG Musicomptoir |
| Past member(s) | Dédé Fortin Patrick Esposito Di Napoli Mike Sawatzky Serge Robert Jimmy Bourgoing André Vanderbiest |
| Website | colocs |
Les Colocs (The Roommates) were a Canadian rock band. It was formed in Montreal, Quebec in 1990. "Les Colocs" had played different kinds of music and live performances.
In October 1990, André "Dédé" Fortin and Louis Léger were in the band “Cha Cha and the Chain Gang”. They left that band and began "Les Colocs" in Montreal. They gave their first show at the Tallulah Darling for the International Festival of Rock.
One of the band's members, Marc Déry, left Les Colocs to create his own band, the Zébulon. Les Colocs put an advertisement in the newspaper looking for a new band member, and Serge Robert answered the ad. He became the band's bass player.
After a few shows, Les Colocs' guitarist, Louis Léger, left. Mike Sawatzky took his place.
The name "Les Colocs" was made official in 1992 at the “Festival international d'été de Québec". Les Colocs was the opening act, with André Fortin, Mike Sawatsky, Jimmy Bourgoing, Patrick Esposito di Napoli, and Serge Robert performing.
In 1992, the band signed their first contract with the record label BMG Music Canada.
In 1993, the band's first album, Les Colocs, was released. It sold over 150,000 copies.
In October 1993, Les Colocs won four Félix awards. Two of these awards were for being group of the year and revelation (new surprise) of the year.
In 1994, the band's harmonica player, Patrick Esposito di Napoli, died of AIDS.
In 1995, Les Colocs made their second album. Dédé Fortin decided on a special release date because he is a strong separatist- he believes that Quebec should be separate and independent from Canada. He decided to release the second album on October 30th, 1995, which was the date of the second referendum on Quebec sovereignty.
Some time later, Dédé decided to fire Serge Robert from the band. A year later, Les Colocs hired André Vanderbiest.
In May 1998, Les Colocs made the third and last album that would come out during Dédé Fortin's life. It was called Dehors Novembre. The album is dedicated to Patrick Esposito Di Napoli, who had died 4 years before. In this album, like the others, the lyrics are dark, and some people say that they show the singer's feelings of culpability and despair. The album sold over 100,000 copies throughout Quebec.
In November 1998, Les Colocs won the Félix award for rock album of the year.
On May 8, 2000, André “Dédé” Fortin killed himself. This ended the group.