Iconic Ghanaian Reggae artiste, Rocky Dawuni, made history after he became the first Ghanaian to be nominated at the Grammy Awards.
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Dawuni’s road to the Grammys
We take you through some of his achievements as we await the 58th edition of the scheme on February 15, 2016.
Rocky Dawuni has been nominated in the ‘Best Reggae Album’ category at the 2016 Grammy Awards for his album ‘Branches of the Same Tree’.
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Rocky has been nominated in the ‘Best Reggae Album’ category at the 2016 Grammy Awards for his album Branches of the Same Tree.
Rocky Dawuni produced his first studio album, The Movement in 1996. The industrious son of Ghana had his song, In Ghana featured on Putumayo [New York City based record label] collection, Reggae Around the World in 1998. His second studio album, Crusade, was released in the same year. The eleven-track album had songs like: Inside Your Head, Sweet Bright Day, My Love, This Is Reggae and Jammin Nation. Awakening which is his third album was released in 2001.
He teamed up with Sullivan and KCRW DJ Jeremy Sole to create Afro Funke', a regular musical event in Los Angeles dedicated to African music, culture and art in 2003.
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In 2005, Rocky Dawuni released his fourth studio album titled, Book of Changes which had Wake the Town, Africa for Learn, Shashamane among others on it.
His cover of John Lennon's Well Well Well appeared on the digital bonus version of the Amnesty International benefit album Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur, which was released by Warner Brothers in 2007 and featured appearances by U2, R.E.M., Aerosmith featuring Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars, Black Eyed Peas and others.
Dawuni participated in the 2009 Playing for Change album, singing along with Bono on War/No More Trouble and Keb Mo' on Biko.
He released another eleven-track album, Hymns for the Rebel Soul, which was his fifth in 2010. Among the songs were Master Plan, Extraordinary Woman, Road to Destiny, Jerusalem, African Reggae Fever and Heads Up High. In that same year, Dawuni's song African Soccer Fever was included on the FIFA World Cup South Africa video game from EA Sports.
Rocky performed at the prestigious Hollywood Bowl with the legendary Stevie Wonder during a night of "Global Soul” in July 2011. In August 2011, he also performed at France’s Les Estivales de la Perriere with Shaggy, Monty Alexander and Diana King where they joined together on a magical rendition of Bob Marley’s No Woman, No Cry. The calm reggae artiste was named one of Africa’s Top 10 global stars by CNN in that same year.
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The achievements continued as Rocky Dawuni in March 2012, headlined the Balispirit Festival in Bali, Indonesia for the second time in three years. He was appointed the Tourism and Cultural Ambassador of Ghana and World Ambassador for the Musicians Union of Ghana. Dreadlocks wearing Dawuni was named a United Nations Foundation Ambassador for the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, an initiative launched by Hillary Clinton, alongside actress Julia Roberts and chef José Andrés in that same year.
Rocky appeared at Switzerland's Montreaux Jazz Festival in July 2013 and also performed at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNFCC) in Warsaw, Poland in front of the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and delegates from around the world.
The launch of his sixth (6) studio album which has earned him a nomination in the 2016 Grammy’s, Branches of The Same Tree is slated for December 18, 2015.
Additional files from rockydawuni.com
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