Bersuit's First Keyboardist Died Homeless in the Cold

Raúl Pagano was a keyboard player who worked with some of the best-known names in Argentine rock. El Marplatense says he played with Bersuit Vergarabat, Fito Páez and Fabiana Cantilo, and that he took part in the early line-ups of the band led by Gustavo Cordera in the 1990s.

According to his former partner, Claudia, the beginning of his decline was the loss of his home in the Villa Crespo neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. She said he could not keep up his life in music. She also attributed his later difficulties to problems with addiction, which, she said, took him away from the stage.

He ended up living on the street in Pinamar, a seaside town on the Argentine coast. The reports do not say when he went there or how long he had been living outdoors.

On 14 July 2020, a day of extremely low temperatures, he was found unconscious on a vacant lot at the corner of Constitución and De las Totoras streets. He was taken to the Pinamar Community Hospital, but the doctors were unable to revive him. He died of hypothermia. The Pinamar police opened an investigation to establish the circumstances of his death.

His former partner remembered him as a man with music in his veins. His death drew attention in the Argentine press because of his history with well-known bands and because it showed how exposed a person can be, even one who had spent years on professional stages, when winter arrives and there is no shelter.