Youssou N'dour

Senegalese singer, songwriter, percussionist, composer, occasional actor, businessman, and politician, born 1 October 1959, Dakar.

He began singing as a child performer at neighborhood gatherings in the tough Medina section of Dakar, Senegal, West Africa. He took formally to the stage at age 12 and by his mid-teens was singing regularly with the Star Band, the most successful group in Senegal at that time. In 1979, he formed his own ensemble, the Etoile de Dakar, which, by 1981, had evolved into The Super Etoile.