Kassav' Co-Founder Jacob Desvarieux Dies at 65
Jacob Desvarieux, founding member of the band Kassav' and author of the hit Zouk la sé sèl médikaman nou ni , has passed away. The 65-year-old artist had been placed in an induced coma after testing positive for Covid-19. He unfortunately did not wake up.
Zouk has lost one of its greatest talents. Jacob Desvarieux, co-founder of the legendary Caribbean group Kassav', died this Friday, July 30, at the age of 65, according to information from Guadeloupe la 1ère. The artist had tested positive for Covid-19 after a routine examination at the Pointe-à-Pitre hospital on July 12. Placed in intensive care, plunged into an artificial coma, the singer was among those most at risk from the coronavirus: diabetic, he had received a kidney transplant in 2008. An operation which had become necessary at the time, after 10 years of fighting the disease . " If I didn't find a kidney transplant, I was going to have a very difficult life for the rest of my life, or even die ," he told KTO in 2020. Saved by this transplant, he then invited people willing to donate their organs to share their wishes with their loved ones. It is thanks to this that Jacob Desvarieux was able to perform on stage for 13 more years and continue to bring joy to the public with his friends from Kassav' and other groups.
Born in Paris, Jacob Desvarieux grew up between Guadeloupe and Martinique and began playing music at a very early age. After touring the scene with small groups, it was at the end of the 70s that he found his companions: Pierre-Edouard Decimus, a major figure in Caribbean music, launched a new group with his brother Georges Decimus and Freddy Marshall. Together, the four men formed Kassav' , whose first album was released in 1979. Singer Jocelyne Béroard joined the group in 1980, and many other artists followed, including Patrick Saint-Eloi, who died of cancer in 2010. Often simply known as a group, Kassav' is in reality much more than that: it is a moving group, whose members regularly release solo albums. In total, nearly 80 records have been released, if we count those of all the members of Kassav'. Among them, the famous Yélélé , one of the five albums of Jacob Desvarieux. Released in 1984 and recorded with Georges Decimus, it contains one of the biggest hits of the group , Zouk la sé sèl médikaman nou ni .
Often considered the founders of zouk, the artists of Kassav' have achieved global success that has taken them to Africa, the United States, Japan, and even, at a time when it still existed, the USSR. " We have an audience, I can tell you it's the best audience in the world. Because they've supported us for 40 years, across several generations. And when you see a Kassav' concert, that's when you see the importance of the audience ," Jacob Desvarieux said emotionally in 2019 on France 2, during Kassav's 40th anniversary concert at Paris La Défense Arena. A pillar of this group, the singer also had success in other projects , including the very popular album Dis l'heure 2 zouk released in 2003. Jacob Desvarieux made his voice heard on two hits from this album: Laisse parler les gens , with Jocelyne Labylle, Cheela and Passi, and Ma rivale with Lynnsha and Lady Sweety.
The rare times he wasn't on stage or in the studio, Jacob Desvarieux took the time to explore another art : that of comedy. An actor in an episode of Femmes de loi , appearing in two short films, he had a small role in the series The Young Pope , where he played a cardinal. An Officer of the National Order of the Legion of Honor and an Officer of Arts and Letters, Jacob Desvarieux will nevertheless remain essentially recognized as a key artist of Caribbean music , which he popularized across the globe. When France 2 asked him, on the 40th anniversary of Kassav', what we could wish for him after all his successes, the singer gave a touching answer: " May the progress of science allow us to live another 40 years to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Kassav'. " We would really have liked it to progress faster .
