Patrick Esposito Di Napoli

Patrick Esposito Di Napoli (January 18, 1964 – November 13, 1994) was a musician and member of the Quebec musical band Les Colocs, for which he played harmonica.[1]

Patrick Esposito.

Early life and education

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Di Napoli was born to a family of Italian descent in Perpignan, in the Pyrénées-Orientales département in France.

Career

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He started making music in the 1970s, sometimes writing his own lyrics and melodies. For a time he lived with other musicians in an artist's loft in Montreal.[2]

Di Napoli wrote the song "Séropositif Boogie", which appeared on the band's first album in 1993, about living with HIV.[3] He had contracted the virus from a tainted needle. He died on November 13, 1994, of complications from AIDS.[4][5]

Les Colocs paid homage to him by using pictures of him during live shows. They dedicated their final album, Dehors novembre (November Begone) (1998), to Di Napoli.[6] It is considered their best album.[1] The title track, written by lead singer Dédé Fortin, expressed the point of view of a dying man, and was later used as the soundtrack to Patrick Bouchard's animated short film Dehors novembre.[7]

He was portrayed by Dimitri Storoge in the 2009 film Through the Mist (Dédé, à travers les brumes).

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Kelly, Brendan (June 2, 2008). "Recreating a rock legend". The Gazette (Montreal). Archived from the original on May 15, 2012. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
  2. ^ "En souvenir de Dédé". Vanessa_Guimond, 5 June 2016 Journal de Québec.
  3. ^ "Je n'aimais pas Les Colocs". 03 August 2009, Marc Cassivi, La Presse
  4. ^ "Les Colocs". MusiquePlus (in French). Archived from the original on May 25, 2009. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
  5. ^ "Il y a 25 ans : Les Colocs – Les Colocs". Voir, Olivier Boisvert-Magnen 27 September 2018
  6. ^ "Les Colocs : les origines". L'Hebdo Journal, 21 juin 2013.
  7. ^ Odile Tremblay, "Entre chats et rats". Le Devoir, November 26, 2015.