The Montreal night has lost its most important builder in Robert Ouimet, composer, remixer and DJ, who died suddenly at the age of 74.
Named best DJ in North America by the magazine RollingStone in 1976 and DJ of the year in 1977 by Billboardhis notoriety had crossed the borders of the province during the disco era, during which he officiated at the turntables of the legendary Lime Light nightclub, from 1973 to 1981. Thanks to his talent and his formidable flair for new music, he allowed the public to discover new wave in the 1980s, then house, of which he was one of the pioneers in Canada, winning a Juno prize in 1994 for one of his compositions.
The musician and DJ Christian Pronovost, another figurehead of the vie de Nuit of the metropolis, says he learned everything about the trade alongside his idol, who became a friend and collaborator. “He showed me and a lot of other DJs in Montreal what it was like to have vision. He said, “If music exists, it must be played.” What Robert Ouimet devoted himself to for more than 50 years.
“In the 1970s, Montreal had lots of clubs and great DJs, but Robert Ouimet was in a class of its own,” Pronovost explains, recalling his nights at the Lime Light on Stanley Street. “He was the first to earn the respect of all the other DJs in town, he was untouchable. Robert wasn’t content to just play the records to get people dancing: he was convinced that there was music out there worth sharing. »
Originally from Saint-Jérôme, Robert Ouimet made his debut at Love, rue Guy, “a small club, like a small Lime Light before Lime Light, with the same kind of clientele, a mix of straights and gays and a musical selection, especially R&B”, he recalled in 2016 during a conference organized in Montreal by the Red Bull Music Academy. It was at Love that the bosses of Lime Light spotted the talent of Ouimet, who will give the place the status of a temple of disco, even rivaling the famous Studio 54.
Flair and grooves
“His contribution was to have really been the first [au Québec] to mix [deux disques] on the tempo — before him, the DJs let a 45 rpm play and, when the song ended, on the fade outthey left another,” explains Pierre Gagnon, a member of the PAJ Disco Mix trio who, between 1976 and 1978, made unique montages of disco songs on magnetic tape that Ouimet then played at his parties.
“He saw in us something that nobody else was doing at the time. Without him, PAJ Disco Mix would simply not exist”, like several other musicians of the time, moreover, such as Lime, France Joly and Gino Soccio, who probably would not have achieved such great success without the support of Ouimet, who will testify in the documentary series DISCOairing April 26 on Videotron’s VRAI platform.
His flair for the good grooves has become at least as legendary as the Lime Light: the Montrealer went to New York every week to unearth records that could not be found in Quebec and to fraternize with fellow American DJs. He is also credited with the success of the song. The Mexican by Babe Ruth, which he was the first to play in a disco and then shared his discovery with New Yorkers Steve D’Aquisto and David Mancuso, famous party host at The Loft club.
“He’s the father of disco in Quebec, our biggest poster child for the art of mixing and nightlife,” insists Pierre Gagnon, who even remembers the first time he heard Robert Ouimet at work at Lime Light: “It was June 7, 1976, I even remember what Robert was playing when Germain, the bouncefinally let us go upstairs: You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine by Lou Rawls, which he mixed with low down by Boz Scaggs. »
beyond disco
But the legacy of Robert Ouimet is not limited to disco, to which he refused to be reduced, affirms Daniel Hadley of the store La fin du vinyle, which had founded the distribution company Nice Music with the late DJ.
After leaving the Lime Light, Ouimet set his sights on new wave, then embraced the house movement from its infancy in Chicago, Detroit and New York. “He was proud to have succeeded in surpassing the disco scene to impose himself on other musical scenes,” says Hadley, who salutes his great curiosity for all music. “As a DJ, he drew his energy from that of the people who danced, it was this exchange that kept him young. »
While pursuing his career as a DJ, Robert Ouimet turned in the 1990s to musical production and directing, notably with the composer Miguel Graça; the duo, under the name Red Light, achieved several hits on the dance floor, notably with the song ThankfulJuno Award for Best Dance Recording in 1994.
Until his death, he still offered musical sessions on ACXIT Radio and collaborated with Christian Pronovost on Mundo Disko events.