The Quebec music industry has lost one of its most important figures with the death of record producer André Di Cesare on Sunday.
He was 70.
Johanne Di Cesare said her brother was hospitalized with an illness that had weakened him during the past year.
Di Cesare, longtime owner of the Montreal indie label Star Records, was a major figure in the Quebec music industry during the 1980s and 1990s.
From 1987 to 1989, he was president of the Association québécoise de l’industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la vidéo, (ADISQ).
He collaborated with several big names in Quebec music, among them Martine St-Clair, Roch Voisine, Renée Martel, Nicole Martin, Patrick Norman and Fernand Gignac.
For the past few years, he had been managing the career of singer and composer William Deslauriers.
"André lived for music,” Johanne Di Cesare told The Canadian Press in an interview.
"During the past year, he was sick, but he worked despite it. He looked after his artists.”
During his long career, Di Cesare amassed a solid collection of Félix awards and gold records, she said.
St-Clair paid tribute to Di Cesare on her Facebook page for having helped launch her career.
"With you, I learned what it meant to interpret songs, to experience them from the inside,” she wrote.
Di Cesare is survived by his wife and their two daughters, age 22 and 17.