Locko

Born in 1992 in Cameroon, Locko is a songwriter, beatmaker, singer, guitarist and keyboardist. His real name is Charles Arthur Locko Samba aka Shawmey Locko or Locko, and he is a fan of R&B. To this style, he injects various musical genres: afro-pop, afro-dance, dancehall, bikutsi, assiko, mangambeu, makossa or bend skin (Cameroon), ndombolo (from the 2 Congo), or azonto (Nigeria, Ghana). All sung with a tenor voice in English, French or “kamerfranglais”.

After obtaining his baccalaureate, Locko joined the Ecole Nationale Polytechnique for higher studies. But his growing interest in music forced him to opt for studies that would give him more time to devote to his passion. Thus, he decided to study management at the University Institute of Science and Management (IUSM) in Yaoundé Bastos.

He learned music and singing at a very young age. He grew up surrounded by choir members and instrumentalists and learned to play the guitar, then the piano with his uncle, at the age of 7. He sings, writes, produces, and plays the piano and guitar. In 2010, he created his Youtube channel on which he regularly publishes covers of popular songs by French and African artists such as Singuila, Maitre Gims, Flavour, Stanley Enow and Duc-Z.

His first single ‘'Perfect Girl’‘, a collaboration with Numerica was released in November 2014, followed by his first solo single ’‘Margo’‘, released a few months later in April 2015 under the label Big Dreams Entertainment. His first EP entitled ’‘Skyzo’‘ was released in December 2015. It includes the hit tracks ’‘Ndutu’‘, ’‘Margo’‘ and ’‘Sawa Romance’‘. In 2016, he released ’‘Supporter’‘ in collaboration with the singer Mr Leo. The song was a huge success on the continent and allowed the two artists to win many local awards.

In 2017, he participated in the Coke Studio Africa 2017 show in Nairobi, sponsored this year by the American singer Jason Derulo, alongside artists Youssoupha, Kiff No Beat, Shado Chris and Ozane. This is the second Cameroonian artist, after the group X-Maleya in 2016, to be invited to take part in this prestigious pan-African show. In 2017, he was presented as the Cameroonian RnB revelation of the year by the French magazine Paris Match. In June 2018, he joined the stable of Universal Music Africa.

Albums:
2018: The Bridge (BIG Dreams Entertainment)
2019: Cloud Nine (Universal Music Africa)
2021: Era (Universal Music Africa)

EP: – 2015: Skyzo (EP) – 2020: Locked Up

Singles: – 2014: Perfect Girl feat Numerica – 2015: Margo – 2015: Ndutu – 2016: Dans Mon Ré – 2016: Sawa Romance – 2016: Supporter feat Mr Leo – 2016: Cocotier – 2017: Thank you Lord – 2017: Je Serai Là – 2017: Danse Avec Moi – 2018: Booboo – 2018: Hein Hein Hein feat Singuila – 2019: Let Go – 2019: Katana Collaborations: – 2015: Lomdie with Michael Kiessou – 2015: Bounce with Stanley Enow & AKA – 2016: My Last with Slim Marion & Dex Willy – 2016: Bas Du Dos with Landry Melody – 2016: Jamais Vu with Fluri Boyz – 2016: Boucan with Valeri Williams – 2017: Ma Vision