Patrick Saint Eloi was born in Pointe-à-Pitre, the capital of Guadeloupe, on 20 October 58 and it was here that he experienced his first musical influences and discovered his vocation. Patrick’s passion for music began at an early age and he would often go and listen to groups with his parents, seizing the opportunity to try out instruments proffered to him by understanding musicians. He began playing on the local scene and then at 17 flew off to the promised land, Paris, where after trying his hand at guitar, drums, bass and percussion, bass, he finally got a taste for singing.

Patrick Saint Eloi’s singing career got off the ground thanks to the Antillais group Venus One. Pierre-Edouard and Georges Decimus were looking around for a young vocalist to front the “dance machine” they were setting up at the time and they spotted Saint Eloi’s nascent talent. Thus the zouk supergroup Kassav’ was born and a new life began for Saint-Eloi, who got to sing on the group’s debut album. The boy with the winning smile went on to prove his vocal mettle, establishing himself as the frontline crooner of Kassav’, the Guadeloupean group who amassed an impressive stack of gold discs in the course of their career and put zouk firmly on the international music map.

1982: " Mizik ce lanmou"

Besides assuring a hectic recording and touring schedule with Kassav’, Patrick Saint Eloi - like the other members of the group - recorded a string of solo albums under his own name. The first of these, "Mizik ce lanmou", released in 1982, proved to be a huge hit in the French West Indies. And his subsequent albums went down equally well, generating impressive sales (between 50,000 and 85,000 each time). The 1984 album "Patrick Saint Eloi" featured the hit singles "Zouké" and "A la demande" and was followed two years later by "Bizness" recorded with Jean-Philippe Marthely. Saint Eloi’s 1992 album "Bizouk", was followed by "Zoukamine" (1994), "Martheloi" recorded with Marthely again (1996) and then "Lovtans" in 1998. The latter featured a series of catchy zouk love tracks such as "Hello dous", but also a number of hard-hitting topical songs such as "Inceste" and "Rehabilitation" (a poignant tribute to the victims of slavery).

Saint Eloi went on to release a live album, "Live Olympia", in 2000. His follow-up album, "Swing Karaïb", was released in 2002 after he had severed ties with Kassav’, leaving the group after a series of gruelling tours to spend more time with his family back home in Guadeloupe. In the winter of 2002, the singer did leave home once again, however, heading off to Paris to perform at Le Bataclan (25 & 26 November).

Continuing in the same zouk vein he had explored in his Kassav' years, Saint Eloi acknowledged other sources of inspiration in his solo career, ranging from gwo ka (traditional music from Guadeloupe) to Brazilian influences (citing Djavan and Gilberto Gil as major musical mentors).

2005: "Plezi"

Having definitively finished with Kassav', Saint Eloi went on to make a major impact with a new solo album, "Plezi", in 2005. Breaking away from his "zouk lover" image, Saint Eloi explored a number of directions on his new album with songs such as "Ni assé" (about natural disasters) and "Respé", a trendy ragga-zouk number featuring Didier Daly. Following the release of the album, Saint-Eloi embarked upon his "Lov'tour", performing concerts across the length and breadth of France and appearing at Le Bataclan, in Paris (4 & 5 November).

Marking the 25th year of his career in style in 2007, Saint Eloi released "Zoukolexion", a greatest hits collection featuring some thirty songs including past chart-toppers and four previously unreleased bonus tracks. On 16 June 2007, Saint-Eloi brought the house down when he appeared at Le Zénith, in Paris, delighting fans with a party-style anniversary concert.

Besides writing material for Kassav’ and his own solo albums, Patrick Saint Eloi has regularly put his songwriting and composing talents at the service of various friends in the music world. These include Ralph Thamar, Jocelyne Béroard, Tanya St Val and the late Edith Lefel.

On 16 June 2007, he filled the Paris Zénith for the first time singing under just his own name. The concert preceded the release of “Zoukolexion vol.1”, a double compilation of his greatest hits.

The Guadeloupe region organized a tribute to Patrick Saint Eloi on 13 August 2008. The open-air concert, which took place in the town of Moule, drew an audience of 30,000. Many West Indian artists came to take part in the show, entertaining an enthusiastic audience for several hours.

15 December 2008 saw the release of “Zoukolexion vol.2”, a 29-track double compilation. Four of the numbers were completely new: two were written for the album, and the singer had composed the other two for Béroard and Edith Lefel.

Aged fifty-two, Patrick Saint Eloi had been suffering from cancer for several months when he died on 18 September 2010 in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe. A public tribute was organised in Moule on 21 and 22 September before his burial. The singer’s death stirred up strong emotion throughout the West Indies, and in France as well.

September 2010

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