Popular Congolese singer Papa Wemba is dead.
The world music star known as the “king of Congolese rumba”, has died after collapsing on stage during a concert. The 66-year-old singer collapsed mid-performance at the Femua festival of urban music in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on Saturday night.
On Sunday, the organisers confirmed his death, extending condolences to his family “and the world of culture”.
Video footage showed him falling to the floor during a song and musicians and backing singers running to his aid.
Wemba was born Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba in former Zaire, where he burst on to the local music scene with his first band, Zaiko Langa Langa, in 1969.
He went on to enjoy huge success in Africa and Europe, where he settled in the 80s to pursue his international career. Among the world music stars he worked with was the former Genesis singer Peter Gabriel. His concerts filled football stadiums from the United States to Japan
Wemba was renowned for his flamboyance, and as the moving spirit behind a cult movement known as “Sapeurs” (members of the Society for the Advancement of Elegant People) whose members – young men – spent huge amounts of money on designer clothes.
In 2004, he was convicted in France of people smuggling after dozens of people from the Democratic Republic of Congo accompanied him into the country, claiming they were band members. He was given a 30-month jail term, 26 of them suspended, after being found guilty of “assistance to the illegal entry or residence of foreigners”.
After his conviction he converted to Christianity.