Patrick Dewez

A year later, RTBF invited him to give a 40-minute performance at the Théâtre de la Place in Liège, which was broadcast live on the first channel. This ‘“face au public”’ took place as part of the Grand Prix de la Chanson Wallonne whilst the jury were deliberating. Also in 1983, Patrick Dewez was one of four Belgian entrants at the 20th Spa Festival, alongside Maurane, Philippe Anciaux and Pierre Martin.

In 1985, he recorded a new single (‘Cinéma dans ta tête’ and ‘Katy’) and met Philippe Lafontaine, who at the time had not yet released ‘Cœur de loup’. This meeting proved decisive for Patrick, as Philippe offered to include this new record in his publishing catalogue and to promote it himself at the RTBF centre in Brussels as well as on RTL. This collaboration with Philippe Lafontaine opened new doors for him, as until then Patrick had mainly been played on the RTBF stations in Liège and Namur.

In 1988, he released his first album: Les eaux des fontaines. Songs such as Île, Babylone, Katy, Petite Star and Les eaux des fontaines were now being played by the various RTBF centres and RTL, on both radio and television. Although he performs mainly in Wallonia and Brussels, his songs have also taken him to Paris, Lausanne and Marrakesh.

In 1990, Patrick Dewez produced and directed, alongside the illustrator François Walthéry, the musical tale (comic book + CD) Natacha – Mambo à Buenos-Aires, featuring, amongst others, Toots Thielemans, Charles Loos, Steve Houben, Jacques Stotzem, Stéphane Martini, Thierry Crommen, Georges Pradez (as narrator), as well as the singer Renaud, who performed one of Patrick’s songs (‘Zénobe’), which would later also feature on his complete works album. This song was regularly played on France Inter, and the musical tale was distributed in Belgium, France, Quebec and French-speaking Switzerland.

In 1995, he founded the Diapason guitar school in Liège. Although he became less visible from the 1990s onwards, Patrick never gave up songwriting and, in 2017, recorded an entirely acoustic CD entitled Dix de der.