Montreal DJ and veteran producer Robert Ouimet has died. He was 74.
Ouimet died on Thursday (April 21). A cause of death has not been made public.
He was known as the "The Godfather of Montreal DJs." He began spinning in the early '70s at a club called Love, and then took over the booth at Lime Light, the famed disco club that opened in 1973. He remained at the club until 1981, during which time he was named Best Canadian DJ Award by Billboard in 1977. After the disco era, he embraced new wave.
"I used to play nine hours straight, two nights a week, from nine o'clock until six in the morning," Ouimet told Cadence Weapon in a 2016 interview for Red Bull Music Academy. "I was the master of the turntable. That's important as a DJ. I was on top, seeing everybody dancing, and if I would start something new and they wouldn't dance, I would play something they knew and then come back with my first song. Most of the time, the second time around, the dance floor would stay packed. I used to do that almost all the time. I was never afraid of a crowd."
As well as influentially spinning tracks, he also produced his own music. He and Miguel Graça, working under the name Red Light, won the Juno Award for Best Dance Recording in 1994 with "Thankful" (featuring David Gordon).
Ouimet died on Thursday (April 21). A cause of death has not been made public.
He was known as the "The Godfather of Montreal DJs." He began spinning in the early '70s at a club called Love, and then took over the booth at Lime Light, the famed disco club that opened in 1973. He remained at the club until 1981, during which time he was named Best Canadian DJ Award by Billboard in 1977. After the disco era, he embraced new wave.
"I used to play nine hours straight, two nights a week, from nine o'clock until six in the morning," Ouimet told Cadence Weapon in a 2016 interview for Red Bull Music Academy. "I was the master of the turntable. That's important as a DJ. I was on top, seeing everybody dancing, and if I would start something new and they wouldn't dance, I would play something they knew and then come back with my first song. Most of the time, the second time around, the dance floor would stay packed. I used to do that almost all the time. I was never afraid of a crowd."
As well as influentially spinning tracks, he also produced his own music. He and Miguel Graça, working under the name Red Light, won the Juno Award for Best Dance Recording in 1994 with "Thankful" (featuring David Gordon).
