Youssou N'Dour

From the Star Band to Super Etoile

Youssou N'Dour was born on October 1, 1959 in Dakar. He began performing around age 12, singing at circumcision parties, and was nicknamed the Little Prince of Dakar by about 14. He joined Diamono at 15 and the Star Band de Dakar, Ibra Kasse's house band at the Miami club, at 16. The Etoile de Dakar formed in 1978 after a dispute with Kasse, with Jimi Mbaye on lead guitar, and "Xalis" was a hit. It split around 1981; N'Dour's side became the Super Etoile de Dakar, with Mbaye, the bassist Habib Faye and the tama player Assane Thiam at its core, growing to as many as 14 players, and issued a long series of cassette albums from 1982. The Wikipedia entry traces mbalax to Wolof sabar drumming in early 1970s urban Senegal, mixed with soul, jazz and salsa.

He electrified London's African Nights festival in 1984, released Immigres that year and organized a concert for Nelson Mandela's release in 1985. In 1986 he sang backing vocals on Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" and played drums on Paul Simon's Graceland; in 1988 he toured with Gabriel on the Amnesty International Human Rights Now! tour. The Lion (1989) and Set (1990, Virgin) followed, the latter number 1 on Billboard's World Albums and named for the Set-Setal youth clean-up movement in Dakar. He opened his own Studio Xippi in 1991, made Eyes Open (1992) and founded the Jololi label in 1995.

The Guide (Wommat) came out on July 11, 1994, produced by Verna Gillis and recorded in autumn 1993 at Power Play in New York and Xippi in Dakar; it is his most commercially successful album, reaching number 2 on Billboard's World Albums, and won the 1994 Edison Award. Later records include Lii (1996), St. Louis (1997), Rewmi (1999), Egypt (2004, Nonesuch, a 2005 Grammy for his only win), Rokku Mi Rokka (2007), Dakar-Kingston (2010), Africa Rekk (2016), History (2019, with a tribute to Habib Faye, who died in 2018), Mbalax (2021) and Eclairer le monde (2025, a Grammy nominee). He played Live 8 on July 2, 2005, was Senegal's Minister of Culture and Tourism from April 2012 to September 2013, won the Polar Music Prize in 2013 and became the first Senegalese Praemium Imperiale laureate in 2017. A documentary, I Bring What I Love, premiered in 2008.