02/24/2026
Remembering Alfie Wade (1932-2026)
On February 6, we lost a legendary figure in the history of Montreal nightlife. Best remembered as a pioneering disc jockey and promoter in the 1960s at places like Don Juan, Le Drug and Vieux Rafiot (better known as Alfie’s), Alfie Wade grew up down the street from Rockhead’s Paradise, started the first Oscar Peterson fan club in the 1940s and studied piano with Daisy Peterson Sweeney. He came of age in the 50s alongside the generation’s most notorious artists and writers: Cohen, Roussil, Vittorio, and was a well-known fashion and nightlife icon covered in both the English and French media of the times.
ARCMTL had the privilege of conducting multiple interviews with Alfie in the last few years of his life. An edited transcript of an interview from June 2021, which chronicles his childhood and impressive career in Montreal up until the late 60s, is now available on our blog, nightsofmontreal.com (link in our bio).
