Coco Mbassi is a Cameroonian-born British musician born on February 28, 1969, in Paris, France. She began her career as a backing vocalist for artists including Salif Keita, Sixun, Toure Kunda, Ray Lema, and Manu Dibango. In 1996, she won the Radio France Internationale Découvertes Prize for the song “Muenge Mwa Ndolo”. Her debut album, Sepia, was released in 2001 and received a nomination for the 2002 BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards while winning the German World Music CD Critics' Award. She followed this with the 2003 release Sisea and a subsequent tour DVD. Mbassi performed at Live 8 and served as the lead female vocalist for the Cirque du Soleil production Totem in 2011. In 2014, she released the album Jóa. Beyond her recording career, she wrote the musical Haendel on the Estate in 2018 and performed as the Old Woman in a production of the play Yerma.
