About Dédé Fortin
André "Dédé" Fortin (French pronunciation: [ɑ̃dʁe dede fɔʁtɛ̃]; 17 November 1962 – 8 May 2000) was a founding member, frontman, and guitarist of the Québécois band Les Colocs, formed in 1990. Born in rural Quebec, André "Dédé" Fortin was the tenth of eleven children. After studying cinema at the Université de Montréal, he formed the folk-rock band Les Colocs in 1990. The band's music addressed serious issues such as poverty, loss of community, and drug dependence. Fortin was also an activist for Quebec sovereignty, campaigning for the "Yes" side in the 1995 Quebec referendum. The last LP from Les Colocs, Dehors Novembre, won the Félix Award for Rock Album of the Year. Fortin struggled with depression and died by suicide in 2000. His legacy includes the renaming of a street in his hometown, a biographical film, and the Fondation Andre Dédé Fortin, which focuses on depression education and suicide prevention. It has become Fortin and the band's most celebrated work, and it won the Félix Award for the Rock Album of the Year. They released their first album in 1993 to great acclaim. 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.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.