1.Diamond Platnumz
Your guess is as good as ours, Diamond Platnumz the golden boy of East Africa and Tanzania’s own music crown prince tops our list of Top 15 African Artists of 2015 .Flamboyant, exciting and creative Diamond Platnumz has emerged as the new face of East African music and the undisputed King of Bongo flava. Never before has an artiste dominated the Tanzanian musical landscape like Diamond is presently doing lifting the East African flag to lofty heights on the world stage. Seen as a spoilt child by his siblings with the way his mother took him around to tale to shows every time and wait for him till late in the night for him to perform, Diamond has gone on to justify the unshaken faith of his mother in his musical ability emerging as one of Africa’s brightest music stars.
Born on October 2nd, 1989 as Nasibu Abdul Juma in Dar REs Salam, Diamond Platnumz started his music career as a rapper dreaming of becoming a rap star and getting all the girls but he found fame as a singer with his special brand of bongo lava. The very prolific artist has recorded more than 140 songs in his music career and is seen as the poster boy of Tanzanian/East African music. The song ‘Number One’ and the subsequent remix featuring the flaming Davido has catapulted Diamond to the top of the African music game with his popularity soaring more than ever before. The energetic performer has shut down venues all over Africa and beyond with fans yearning for more.
Diamond is a music person who listens to music all the time and is absolutely loved and adored by his fans while setting an unprecedented record of winning 7 Tanzanian Music Awards in one go. The BET Awards 2014 nominee stormed AFRIMMA with multiple nominations and he won in the Best Male East Africa category before going on stage to rekindle his partnership with Davido on the ‘Number One’ remix. 2015 has seen Diamond Platnumz cement his status as Africa’s number one artist with multiple awards including MTV EMA’s and AFRIMMA 2015 Artist of The Year Award.
A fan favorite anyday, Diamond is poised to cross boundaries with his music and his energetic as well as creative performances.
12. Vanessa Mdee
Coming up at number 12 of our Top 15 African Artists of 2015 is the petite East African vocal siren Vanessa Mdee aka V-Money. Born Vanessa Hau Mdee on June 7, 1988 in Arusha, Tanzania the third largest city in the country, she got grips different cultures in hear formative years. Vanessa grew up in New York, Paris, Nairobi and Arusha bagging a law degree at the Catholic University of East Africa. Vanessa Mdee has always had the knack for the creative and performing arts.
Little wonder that she is today a recording artist, songwriter, youth activist, TV and radio host.Vanessa Mdee created her own piece of history by becoming the first ever Tanzanian MTV VJ and he gained prominence as radio and TV host, hosting Epic Bongo Search and Dume Challenge for ITV Tanzania. Music took over she signed to B’Hits Music Group in late 2012 and her rise to the top echelons of African music has been astronomical.
After joining B’Hits Music Group, Mdee collaborated with Tanzanian rapper A.Y. on a record ‘’Money’’ and Ommy Dimpoz, a Bongo Flava artist on a record Me and You that was later voted Song of the Year during the 2013 Kilimanjaro Music Awards.
She received an even bigger buzz with the release of her first solo single “Closer”, which in its first week was downloaded over 30,000 times, a feat achieved by no other Tanzanian artist. “Closer” remained on the charts for over 13 weeks. She bagged three nominations at the prestigious Kilimanjaro Tanzania Awards in 2014.
Vanessa Mdee has kept her buzz up in 2015 by consistently doing better at what she does best. She released her fifth single Nobody But Me in March this year where she joined forces with heavy hitting South African rapper K.O. on a song that topped charts across the continent. The Vanessa Mdee brand solidified the more this year as she attracted loads of corporate attention eventually signing up as Brand Ambassador for Samsung Tanzania.
On the back of winning the Best Female Entatiner award at Kilimanjaro Tanzania Awards 2015, she went ahead to claim the AFRIMMA Best Female East Africa award as well as dropping the hot fire single ‘Never Ever to cap an impressive year for one of Africa’s finest female entertainers.
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