Dieudonné Larose

The story so far.

Written and edited by Smokiller

Joseph Dieudonné Larose was a Haitian singer born on June 5, 1945, in Cabaret, a town about 15 miles from Port-au-Prince. The Haitian Times describes him as part of the founding generation of Haitian popular music, a storyteller whose voice drew him to konpa and made him a major figure in konpa dirèk. He sang with several bands before going solo and was most closely tied to Shoogar Combo, DP Express and Missile 727. Across a career of about 40 years he recorded more than 20 albums about love, pain, hope and social realities, with hits such as Aksidan, Mandela and Jolie Minou that other artists still cover. His Deezer catalog includes Les Grands Succès de Larose (Lanmou Maman), credited with Missile 727, the 1997 set Akoustik Compas, Vol. 1 and Cyclone. In 2024 the paper reported that the Mandela singer had called on Haiti's prime minister to step down. He died in Canada, where he had been living, in January 2026, at 80.