Rocky Dawuni - Artist Page
Rocky Dawuni
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Biography:
 

Rocky Dawuni was born in 1969 and originally comes from the northern Yendi Dagbon region of Ghana. He grew up at Michel Camp Army Barracks near Accra, where his father was an army sergeant. Rocky attended the University of Ghana, where he studied psychology and philosophy.

While still a student, Rocky Dawuni burst onto the African reggae scene in the early 1990's as the lead singer of the Ghanaian reggae group, Local Crisis, at the Pan African Music Festival held in the West African country's capital of Accra. In their debut performance, Dawuni's mesmerizing stage presence and powerful songs secured the group hero status. “My first band was an accident,” said Rocky. “In my first year, I met these four guys who were students there and musicians. Everyone was saying, ‘Why are we in the University if we want to be musicians? Why don’t we form a band?’”

Although Dawuni soon developed a following in his beloved, native Ghana, he decided to leave for the United States of America and pursue his musical horizons. Over the next few years, Rocky spent time writing and recording, while being exposed to the many diverse forms of music abroad as well as under-studying the music business itself.

In 1996, Rocky Dawuni released his debut recording, The Movement, one of the most anticipated reggae albums in West Africa. The artists' introspective journey into social and spiritual consciousness garnered rave reviews in the Ghanaian press and spawned two hit singles, with both "Sugar" and "What Goes Around" obtaining massive Ghanaian airplay. 

In the United States, The Movement received critical acclaim and glowing praise. Mesa/Bluemoon Records, a subsidiary of Atlantic Records, licensed "What Goes Around" and its video for release throughout the U.S. on Strictly Underground: Reggae's Next Generation, propelling the video to climb to #3 on the Reggae Video Charts in January 1997 and introducing Rocky's music to U.S. reggae radio.

In spring 1998, Aquarian Records / Who Dun It Records released Rocky's second recording, Crusade, written, arranged and produced by Rocky Dawuni. The album is a sprawling philosophical journey into rhythm and soul with songs of pain, spirituality, love, revolution and redemption. From the nyabinghi tinged tropical jam, "Sweet Bright Day," which Dawuni describes as "an invocation of the perfect day when all elements fall into place in our lives," to a hauntingly powerful piece entitled, "Conqueror," which highlights a traditional African kora player, Crusade is Dawuni's musical and spiritual war promoting love, justice and righteousness. "It's about hope in the human spirit and allowing God to empower us to attain the unattainable."

Crusade's first single, "In Ghana," achieved international hit status on both radio and TV with the tune's arresting video. Inspired by Ghana's 40th Anniversary Celebrations, Dawuni describes the song "as a celebration of 40 years of independence...as the first black African country to attain independence, it's a personal ode to the individual's continuing search for freedom." Putumayo World Music subsequently licensed "In Ghana" for their Reggae Around the World compilation CD that also includes tracks from Lucky Dube, Burning Spear and Majek Fashek. "In Ghana" was recently voted "Reggae Song of the Year" at the Ghana Music Awards 2000.

The July 1998 release of Crusade was, and continues to be, enormously successful, with tremendous media coverage throughout the African continent. In the spring of 1999, Rocky began a summer festival tour of the United States, which culminated with a knockout live performance at the Vermont Reggae Festival to a capacity crowd of 35,000. Rocky also put in extraordinary performances at the UCLA Jazz/Reggae Festival and Sierra Nevada World Music Festival, establishing himself as one of the premier live reggae artists.

Rocky Dawuni, appeared live in concert at the La Pleasure Beach in Accra on Ghana's Independence Day, March 6th, 2001. Under the auspices of Aquarian Productions and Ghana Tourist Development Co Ltd., the first annual "Rockys Dawuni's Independence Splash" was a hit with an estimated crowd of over 20,000. Rocky opened the show with the ever popular "Inside Your Head" with the crowd singing along to every word. The stage was a virtual war-zone with fans fighting with security personnel to get to Rocky during his two-hour plus set. "Rocky Dawuni's Independence Splash" ended with a stunning rendition of Rocky's "In Ghana, "which has become the unofficial national anthem of the country. As the sun set, Ghanaians and foreigners alike sang in unison to celebrate Ghana's 44th year of independence from colonial rule.

In November of 2004 Stevie Wonder made a surprise appearance onstage at Rocky Dawuni's concert performance at Zanzibar in Santa Monica, California. Wonder wailed on harmonica and dug into the crowd-inspired call & response vocal gymnastics on Dawuni's Afro groove track, "Wake the Town," from his fourth album Book of Changes.

2007 proved to be a year of tremendous action for Dawuni, who completed a successful tour of Israel where he performed with the country's star Mosh Ben Ari. In March, his annual '7th Rocky Dawuni's Independence Splash' concert celebrating Ghanaian Independence Day, attracted over 40, 000 people at La Pleasure Beach in Accra, Ghana and Rocky also traveled extensively with UNICEF to the northern part of his homeland to bring attention to the pressing need for clean water and sanitation.

Rocky was featured on the highly successful Instant Karma: Amnesty International Campaign To Save Darfur Deluxe Edition release (Warner Bros Records) which features covers of John Lennon songs by global stars including Black Eyed Peas, U2, Christina Aguilera, Green Day, Ben Harper and Jack Johnson. In addition, Dawuni's afro beat "Wake the Town" was featured on video giant Electronic Arts (EA)'s FIFA 2008 video game which has been released world-wide to millions of consoles.

In June 2007 Rocky and supermodel Elle MacPherson completed a June 13 -15 humanitarian tour of Ghana as spokespersons for (RED) and the Global Fund to announce the grant of 6.4 million dollars to provide HIV / AIDS treatment. (RED) was founded by U2 front man Bono and Bobby Shriver to harness the power of some of the world's most iconic brands in the fight against HIV / AIDS. “I have always used my concerts as a platform to engage social issues,” he says, “and not only as a spokesperson. I personally organize local musicians to work with communities and help them find sustainable solutions to problems on the ground.”

The year 2010 began with Rocky performing at the Vatican sponsored “Journey of the Spirit Festival” in mid January in Rome. From there Rocky took off for his homeland of Ghana to release his genre-bending fifth album titled "Hymns for the Rebel Soul" at a launch party at Citizen Kofi in Osu, Accra. “First, I am Ghanaian,” Dawuni explains. “I harness local elements into a whole organic form, while the arrangements overall use a contemporary global palette."

Discography:

The Movement (Mesa 1996)
Crusade (Aquarian Records / Who Dun It Records, 1998)
Awakening (2001)
Book of Changes (Aquarian Records, 2005)
Hymns For The Rebel Soul (Aquarian Records, 2010)

Official Web Site: www.rockydawuni.com

Booking:
 
Roots Productions , Address: Sakura Koné, Roots Productions, Post Office Box 330271, San Francisco, CA 94133, USA. Phone: +1 (510) 883-0311, Fax: +1 (415) 956-2346, pager: (909) 931-8894. E-mail: sakura_kone@worldnet.att.net. 
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