Patrick Esposito Di Napoli (January 18, 1964 – November 13, 1994) was a musician and founding member of the Quebec rock band Les Colocs, for which he played the harmonica.
Early life and education
Di Napoli was born to a family of Italian descent in Perpignan, in the Pyrénées-Orientales département in France.
Career
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.
A passionate blues enthusiast, Di Napoli credited his love for the harmonica to hearing Mick Jagger’s playing on Midnight Rambler from The Rolling Stones' Let It Bleed album. He later immersed himself in blues music, with "I Got My Eyes on You" by Sonny Terry being the first song he learned on the harmonica. He contracted the virus from using a tainted needle to inject heroin.
Living with HIV and death
Despite his diagnosis, he remained joyful and defiant, using music to confront his fate. In a statement, his bandmates described him as "at peace with himself and with others," adding that "he played his music until the very end. For that, and for everything else, he will never truly die." It is considered their best album.
He was portrayed by Dimitri Storoge in the 2009 film Through the Mist (Dédé, à travers les brumes).
See also
- List of Quebec musicians
- Music of Quebec
- Culture of Quebec