On Saturday (October 15) Mikaben, also known as Michael Benjamin, collapsed leaving the stage at the Accor Arena in Paris – and passed away despite the help of rescue workers. In Paris, the 41-year-old performed with the Haitian band Carimi. A cause of death has not yet been announced.
He was born in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince in 1981 and had a wife and children. His wife Vanessa wrote on Instagram: “I lost half of me and I’m speechless.”
A few moments before his collapse he could still be seen singing and dancing on stage.
Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry also mourned Mikaben’s death on Twitter and wrote that he was “shocked by the sudden death of the young and very talented artist”. Rapper Wyclef Jean is also from Haiti and said in the newspaper The Miami Herald about Mikaben that he was “one of the most influential and inspiring young artists of our generation”.