Michel Martelly which had been abolished in the 1990s by Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Martelly was born in Port-au-Prince, the son of Gerard Martelly, a Shell Oil executive and Marie Madeleine De Martelly (1931-21 October 2016). On his mother's side, his grandfather Auguste de Pradines was a troubadour who wrote comic protest songs against the 1915-34 United States occupation of Haiti. After graduating from high school at the Institution Saint Louis de Gonzague, Martelly enlisted in the Haitian Military Academy, but (according to Martelly) was expelled after impregnating the daughter of a general. In 1984, he moved to the United States, and worked in
Michel Martelly Mendes Brothers' original version of the song, performed by Ramiro Mendes included in the group's 1997 album—"Para Angola Com Um Xi Coracao". Martelly is also notorious for his cursing on stage, cross-dressing as well as using homophobic slurs. His celebrity status as a popular compas musician would become a major factor in his popularity as a politician. In 1992, Martelly played for free at a protest against the arrival of a UN representative charged with negotiating the return of Jean-Bertrand Aristide after the 1991 Haitian coup d'état. Martelly later explained "I did not want Aristide back... You want me to