Shock wave Tuesday in the music world: singer Karim Ouellet was found dead in his residence in Quebec. The one who rose to fame in 2012 with his success love was barely 37 years old.
According to our information, the Quebec police were called for an audit in a dwelling in the La Cité-Limoilou borough. On the spot, they discovered an inanimate body and the death was quickly confirmed.
Relatives of Karim Ouellet confided that the singer was going through a bad patch in recent months, during which he had isolated himself a lot following professional disappointments.
The announcement of his death nevertheless had the effect of a bombshell among the artisans of the cultural milieu of the national capital, of which he was one of the leading figures.
The singer Claude Bégin, accomplice of the first hour of Karim Ouellet, is devastated.
“I’m still in the process of landing from that shock,” he told the Duty, a few hours after learning of the death of his friend.
The owner of the L’Anti performance hall, Karl-Emmanuel Picard, has only fond memories of the 37-year-old artist. “He was always present to participate and to help in the cultural life of Quebec,” he recalls.
Born in Dakar, Senegal, Karim Ouellet was adopted by a family in Quebec, where he grew up. He was first noticed in 2009 on the boards of the Granby Festival. Two years later, he released his first opus, Feather, but the consecration will come in 2012 thanks to fox, a resolutely pop-sounding record with inspirations from hip-hop and soul music. Besides the title Love, which became one of the most popular songs on radio that year, this second album also includes the hits Marie-Jo and There is no point running.
Named Radio-Canada’s revelation for 2012-2013, Karim Ouellet was then perceived as one of the rare artists to have succeeded in building bridges between the more alternative scene and the commercial music world.
He won the Félix-Leclerc Song Prize in 2013, then the Juno for Francophone Album of the Year in 2014 for fox.
The same year, Karim Ouellet will perform as the opening act for Belgian popstar Stromae in Europe. His last album, Thirty, dated from 2016. The singer-songwriter was the brother of rapper Sarahmée.