Coco Mbassi

{{Short description|Cameroonian-born British musician}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}

{{BLP sources|date=July 2010}}

Coco Mbassi (born 28 February 1969) is a musical artist originating from Cameroon, born in Paris, France, and based in London, UK.{{Cite news|url=https://www.ft.com/content/2a5328de-76b3-11e6-bf48-b372cdb1043a|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221211191230/https://www.ft.com/content/2a5328de-76b3-11e6-bf48-b372cdb1043a|archive-date=11 December 2022|url-access=subscription|url-status=live|title=Inside London's 'shadow' music business|newspaper=Financial Times|date=4 October 2016|last1=Hunter-Tilney|first1=Ludovic|access-date=10 December 2016}}

Winner of the Radio France Internationale Découvertes Prize in 1996{{Cite web|url=https://musique.rfi.fr/musique/20011024-voix-coco-mbassi|title = La Voix de Coco Mbassi|date = 24 October 2001}} with the song "Muenge Mwa Ndolo", she toured worldwide and her first album, Sepia, was released in 2001. This album was nominated in 2002 for the BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards, and won the German World Music CD Critics' Awards. Her second album Sisea was released in 2003. After touring, she released a live tour DVD, Coco Mbassi Tour.

Prior to her solo career, she sang with various artists as a backing vocalist, live or in recording sessions (including with Salif Keita, the jazz band Sixun, Toure Kunda, Ray Lema).,{{cite web|url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p453248/biography|pure_url=yes}}|title=Biography: Coco Mbassi|last=Greenberg|first=Adam|publisher=Allmusic|accessdate=27 July 2010}} and Manu Dibango.{{Cite web|url=https://genius.com/albums/Manu-dibango/Lion-of-africa|title = Lion of Africa by Manu Dibango}}

Mbassi performed at Live 8, at the Eden Project, Cornwall.

A lover of music in general, some of her favourites are The Messiah of Handel, Stevie Wonder, Bob Marley and the Cameroonian artist Dina Bell.{{citation needed|date=December 2016}}

Mbassi was on tour with Totem (Cirque du Soleil) as the lead female vocalist of the production in 2011.

Her latest release is the album Jóa (2014). {{Citation needed|date=December 2016}}

After being selected for the BEAM 2018 showcase,{{Cite web|url=http://www.stratfordeast.com/whats-on/all-shows/beam-2018|title=BEAM 2018 - Theatre Royal Stratford East|access-date=15 January 2019|archive-date=22 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211022040850/https://www.stratfordeast.com/whats-on/all-shows/beam-2018|url-status=dead}} Coco Mbassi has written a musical called 'Haendel on the Estate' extracts of which were performed at Ovalhouse theatre in February 2019 as part of their First Bites Spring 2019 programme.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ovalhouse.com/whatson/detail/haendel-on-the-estate-first-bite|title = Brixton House}}

The singer also recently played the part of 'The Old Woman' in Cervantes Theatre's director Jorge de Juan García's adaptation of Lorca's famed play Yerma.{{Cite web |url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/2018/yerma-review-cervantes-theatre-london/ |title=Yerma review at Cervantes Theatre, London |access-date=15 January 2019 |archive-date=16 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190116095844/https://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/2018/yerma-review-cervantes-theatre-london/ |url-status=dead }}