Denis LePage, co founder of Montreal disco powerhouse duo Lime, dies at 74 | 24CA News
Disco producer Denis LeWeb page had a knack for drawing revellers to the dance ground, and within the coronary heart of Montreal’s pumping Nineteen Eighties nightlife, the musician’s hitmaking abilities had been unmistakable.
With a stream of Billboard chart hits, LeWeb page helped outline an period of Canada’s discotheques as a part of the duo Lime.
LeWeb page, who recognized as non-binary and later took the title Nini Nobless, died Monday of most cancers at age 74, mentioned former supervisor Yvon Lafrance.
While not precisely a family title, LeWeb page’s infectious synthesizer hooks made Lime’s songs favourites at dance golf equipment world wide.
“He was a genius,” defined Claude Chalifoux, who co-owned Lime Light, the bustling Montreal dance membership that repeatedly spun Lime’s dance tracks.
“All of the music that Denis did was a smash hit. People went crazy when they’d play Your Love, You’re My Magician and Guilty.”
Years earlier than these digital disco favourites, LeWeb page was already chasing a music profession.
As an adolescent, they carried out within the band the Persuaders, and by the mid-Nineteen Seventies had shaped the jazz-fusion act Le Pouls with then-wife Denyse LeWeb page, a singer-songwriter in her personal proper.
A number of years later LeWeb page secured their first hit with the funky 1979 single The Break, launched beneath the title Kat Mandu. The cowbell-fuelled track peaked at No. 3 on Billboard’s U.S. disco chart.
The success put some wind into the sails of LeWeb page’s second undertaking with Denyse, which caught the wave of the synthesizer revolution sweeping by means of the business.
Inspired by the sounds of Giorgio Moroder and Kraftwerk, the LeWeb page duo had recorded an electro-disco undertaking collectively. But they hadn’t settled on the title of their new act the evening they walked into the Lime Light with a promotional copy of their first vinyl, mentioned Chalifoux.
Lime Light, a downtown Montreal discotheque that welcomed homosexual and straight clubgoers alike, proved a fruitful inspiration in additional methods than one. Opened in 1973, the venue started internet hosting an unique, fashion-forward patronage 4 years earlier than New York’s Studio 54 would cater to an identical crowd.
When in-house DJ Michel Simard performed Lime’s 1981 debut single Your Love on the turntables for the primary time, he was immediately satisfied that they had a success on their palms, remembered Chalifoux.
As the disco pair chatted with Simard, it grew to become clear they had been in some way related to the venue in a particular manner.
“When the people came to the Lime Light … a lot of (them) said, ‘We’re going to the Lime tonight,’” added Chalifoux.
And so a shortened model of the membership’s title caught to the couple.
An evening on the Lime Light quickly grew to become synonymous with listening to Lime’s hits over the sound techniques on one of many venue’s two ranges of dance flooring.
By the top of 1981, Your Love had unfold past Canada’s borders, touchdown atop the U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart for one week.
Lime delivered one other ground filler with 1982’s mirrorball booty shaker Babe, We’re Gonna Love Tonight, which peaked at No. 6 on the dance chart.
Denis and Denyse additionally discovered success outdoors Lime once they wrote Dancin’ the Night Away for the duo Voggue. The 1981 single held at No. 1 on the Billboard dance chart for 3 weeks.
They additionally continued making music as Lime into the Nineteen Nineties, although associates say monetary issues led LeWeb page to promote music copyrights to Unidisc, a Montreal document label that makes a speciality of sounds of the period.
“My parents’ relationship was not easy,” mentioned Claudine LeWeb page, the couple’s youngster.
“They continued making music together … and then my dad continued producing music but used other singers. Or my mom would sing by herself on songs with other artists. The goal was just to continue making music.”
Around the early 2010s, LeWeb page started to publicly establish as a lady, taking the title Nini Nobless and recording new materials. The music struggled to seek out an viewers for quite a lot of causes.
“I felt that the people didn’t like that Denis went from a man to a lady,” mentioned Chalifoux.
“His music was good, he had the same voice as when he was singing with Lime, it was only a physical change … (but) the sound was too much from the ’80s.”
Still, Lime’s sound has reverberated in modern circles with the assistance of Unidisc. The firm’s possession of Lime’s catalogue meant the label may reissue and rework previous recordings.
In current years, that included recruiting Canadian dance producers Jacques Greene and Tiga to supply remixes of the duo’s traditional singles.
Francis Cucuzzella, who manages artist relations at Unidisc, mentioned there was a documentary on Lime being made in cooperation with the late LeWeb page. While the undertaking is now in limbo, he hopes it can sooner or later be accomplished and launched.
A funeral is deliberate in Montreal for Sept. 4.
Editors’ observe: The Canadian Press consulted household and associates of Denis LeWeb page, who additionally glided by Nini Nobless, to find out which names and pronouns they consider they might have most well-liked for this story. The musician used their names and pronouns interchangeably of their later years.
© 2023 The Canadian Press
