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Charles Nii Armah Mensah Jr., (born 17 October 1984) is a Ghanaian reggae-dancehall artist. He is known by his stage name Shatta Wale, formerly Bandana.
Early Life
Charles Nii Armah Mensah Jr. was born in Accra, Ghana at the Police Hospital on 17 October 1984 to Charles Nii Armah Mensah Snr and Elsie Evelyn Avemegah. His father is a politician, businessman and legal practitioner.
Shatta Wale attended Seven Great Princes Academy at Dansoman, a suburb in Accra, where he demonstrated an affinity for arts and acted in a popular drama series, By the Fireside, at the National Theatre of Ghana. He then continued to the Winneba Secondary School where he obtained his second cycle education.He started his young music career with borrowed name and identity-Doggy- a name he took in reverence of his favourite DanceHall artiste at the time- Yoggy Doggy.
Then he changed to Bandana- a name that shot him to fame after a single hit track titled Moko Ho. He died in music, buried for years, only to resurrect with a new name, Shatta Wale, a new identity and a solid repertoire of hits after hits.
Breakthrough and Music Career
Shatta Wale’s best-known singles are “Dancehall King”, “My level” and “We taking over”. He is also known for “Already” from Beyoncé’s Black Is King which also featured Major Lazer. His song “Dancehall King” earned him the Artiste of the Year at the 2014 edition of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards. Wale is also an actor who appeared in the films Never Say Never ,The trial of Shatta Wale and Shattered Lives. Wale’s 2004 recording “Moko Hoo” was nominated for a Ghana Music Award.
In 2019 he also had a collaboration with Beyoncé titled “Already” on her album The Lion King: The Gift which was nominated at the Grammy Awards.
In 2021, he was nominated for two awards and won the ‘Best Virtual Entertainer of the Year’ Award at the International Reggae and World Music Awards (IRAWMA).
Concerts
He was the first Ghanaian to organize a digital concert on YouTube which was dubbed the Faith Concert. The concert was organized to bring hope to Ghanaians and his global audience at large during the fight against COVID-19 pandemic.He was selected by The Ministry of Communications, Ghana, alongside Highlife musician Kuami Eugene as the headline artistes for the COVID-19 app virtual launch concert held on Monday April 13, 2020. On Saturday 17 October 2020, he threw a massive birthday party, which saw attendance by family and friends at his East Legon residence to mark his 36th birthday.He is on record to be the first artist to host a stadium show all by himself and filled to capacity.
Accolades
Mayor of Worcester, Joseph Petty, presented Shatta Wale with the Key to the City on 8 July 2017.
On 18 March 2018, Wale was presented an honoree award for his contribution to reggae in Ghana at the 37th Annual Chicago Music Awards (CMA), in conjunction with the 36th International Reggae & World Music Awards (IRAWMA).
In 2014, he peaked to number 38 on E.tv’s “Top 100 Most Influential Ghanaian” Awards chart. He has since then appeared on the chart every year. Again in 2014 he was nominated for the Maiden GN Bank Awards as the People’s Choice Male Musician of the year. He was ranked “Most Influential Musician” on social media in 2017. He made a record-setting as a dancehall artist to have won 11 awards at the 2019 3 Music Awards ceremony.
