Kwesi Selassie

Bio:

KWESI SELASSIE, a.k.a. “The Lion,” was born and raised in Sekondi-Takoradi, the capital twin-city of the Western Region of Ghana in West Africa. At 11 years, he began singing and playing the guitar. Other instruments, such as drums and percussion aroused his interest, and he endeavored to learn how to play each of them. It would not be long before he was dubbed the “musical prince” by his secondary school mates and everyone in his hometown.

Like most parents, Mr. Kweku Sackey-Selassie and Queen Mother Nana Baah Agyekum 1, encouraged Kwesi to strive for a professional career. Strongly influenced by his parents, Kwesi proceeded to London to pursue a law career. However, his drive to become a musician was too strong to be reversed. After three years, Kwesi ended his law studies much to the disappointment of his parents and returned to Ghana to embrace his first love, music.

Kwesi began singing and playing guitar with many spectacular bands all over West Africa. Maturing as an artist, Kwesi began writing, arranging, and producing songs in his native language Fanti as well as in English, French, and ten other African dialects, making him the preeminent multi-lingual African reggae music artist. He also began traveling and performing around the world. In 1990, Kwesi was invited by Mr. Mario Gauthier to Quebec City, Canada where Kwesi would begin the upward trend in the global music industry.

Kwesi has maintained the original blend of his music comprised of grinding highlife (original music from Ghana), Reggae, Ragga, and a touch of European influence, as what he calls Highlife-Dub Reggae. His musical themes deal with emancipation of all people, love, peace, unity, spirituality, human rights, and socio-economic justice, a.k.a. conscious reggae music.

In 1995, Kwesi performed at the 11th Canadian Reggae Music Awards, and was nominated in 1997 for his CD album “False Prophets.” He was nominated in 1999 for “Judgment Day” as the Top Reggae Album of the Year. In November 1999, he was nominated in four categories at the African Music Awards in Toronto for Best Album, Composer, Release, and won Producer of the Year award for “Judgment Day.” With six acclaimed CD albums to his credit, Kwesi was nominated for “Reggae Recording of the Year” at the 2007 Canadian JUNO Awards for his CD album “SURVIVAL.”

Kwesi’s latest CD album “PROMISED LAND,” featuring 13 songs and 4 instrumental Dubs, was released on May 17, 2009 and is available for digital download and at local retail outlets. Kwesi is currently staging live performances in North America, Europe, Middle East, and Africa.

CONTACT KWESI SELASSIE

info@kwesiselassie.com

KWESI SELASSIE on the Web:

KWESI SELASSIE's WEBSITE

KWESI SELASSIE on TWITTER

KWESI SELASSIE on MySPACE

KWESI SELASSIE on FACEBOOK

..Designed by 48-14

Member Since:

March 23, 2006

Members:

KWESI SELASSIE AND THE SURVIVAL BAND

Influences:

Mom and Dad, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Peter Tosh, Burning Spear, Culture and many many more...

Sounds Like:

Kwesi Selassie (The Lion of Africa)

Record Label:

The Lion of Africa Productions (Independent)