Popular Congolese musician Papa Wemba has reportedly passed on after collapsing on stage, aged 66.
According to reports, the king of Rumba suffered an attack while performing at Festival des Musiques Urbaines d’Anoumabo (FEMUA) – in Abidjan, Ivory Coast and died today, April 24, 2016.
VIDEO: The moment legendary African musician Papa Wemba slumped while performing on stage at #FEMUA9. pic.twitter.com/beZDcDgLvk #RIPPapaWemba
— NBS Television (@nbstv) April 24, 2016
Papa Wemba – who founded Viva La Musica – a DR Congo band in 1977 – had collaborations with international artists including Peter Gabriel, Eric Clapton and Stevie Wonder during his long music career.
In February 2003, the singer was suspected of being involved in a network that allegedly smuggled hundreds of illegal immigrants from the DR Congo into Europe and was arrested at his home in Paris. He was found guilty by a Belgian court in June 2003 and was sentenced to fifteen months imprisonment and a €22,000 fine.
After his release in October of the same year after posting bail, he recounted the jail term in ‘Numéro d’écrou’, a song off his Somo Trop album.
He made his acting debut in 1987 movie ‘La Vie est Belle’ translated as Life Is Beautiful, playing the role of Kourou, an ambitious musician who later falls in love with Kabibi, a virginal young woman who wants to be a secretary.
