The charming singer and famous presenter Serge Laprade is no more: the gentleman often described as “handsome Brummell” died on Wednesday at the age of 83, after being admitted to palliative care on Monday due to a recurrence of his cancer.
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According to his friend and publicist Tony Langelier, Serge Laprade had practically stopped eating since the beginning of the week at the palliative care home in La Prairie, where he had been admitted.
He breathed his last on Wednesday evening after spending the day in the company of his loved ones, including his partner of 50 years, Daniel Arsenault, with whom he married last October.
- Listen to the touching interview with Daniel Arsenault, husband of Serge Laprade, on Richard Martineau’s show via QUB:
“His health has been deteriorating very quickly since the beginning of December,” Mr. Arsenault told the QMI Agency yesterday.
“He wanted to leave quietly and not have to have surgery or chemotherapy. He was serene. »
Paradoxically, Daniel Arsenault knew on the day of the death of “the man of his life”, Wednesday, that his own prostate cancer was cured. He can only live in serenity now.
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“It’s sad news, but we had an intense three weeks,” he assures us. I will sincerely tell you that I feel very calm this morning. This is what he would have wanted for me. Our love is greater than tears. I’m going to try to be as great as he was. »
Versatility
Serge Laprade was obviously known for his songs Capri, it’s over, Forbidden love And Take care of her. He left his mark on Quebec television by hosting the shows Garden Partyalongside Michèle Richard, and the popular quiz game The line workin which he used to give roses to the ladies in the room.
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During his career, Serge Laprade played roles in soap operas Rock epic And Love, delights and co.. He has also portrayed several characters in theater and cinema, notably in The initiationwith Danielle Ouimet, in 1970.
Born on January 13, 1941 in Montreal, in the “Faubourg à m’lasse”, of a military family, the host, who lost his mother to tuberculosis at the age of 5, was the youngest of A family of five sons, more than 13 years apart from the youngest big brother.
With training in singing and theater as well as social sciences and politics from the University of Montreal, Serge Laprade, who dreamed of becoming a diplomat, first worked, from 1962 to 1963, in the service of the news of the radio station CJMS, as a journalist.
Almost at the same time, his musical career took off, the artist notably winning, at the famous cabaret Café Saint-Jacques, the amateur singing competition organized by Jean Simon.
Archive photo, QMI Agency
Quick success
Named “Male Discovery of the Year” at the 1964 Artists’ Gala, Serge Laprade quickly met with great success with his refrains, particularly with Capri is overcover of a success by Hervé Villard, in 1965.
The charming singer, with whom women fell in love, often said he was a slave to his audience, particularly at the start of his career. It would ultimately be following the death of his friend Michel Louvain, in 2021, that he would have wanted to publicly announce his homosexuality.
– With the QMI Agency