Daddy Lumba

Charles Kwadwo Fosu, known as Daddy Lumba, was a Ghanaian highlife singer, songwriter and record producer, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest Ghanaian musicians of all time. Over four decades he released 27 solo albums and more than 200 songs, won seven Ghana Music Awards and helped launch the careers of many other highlife singers. He died on 26 July 2025, aged 60.

Early life

He was born on 29 September 1964 in Nsuta in the Ashanti Region, the second of three children of Comfort Gyamfi, known as Ama Saah, and Johnson Kwadwo Fosu, both teachers. His father died when he was young. He attended Suame Methodist School in Kumasi, then Adu Gyamfi Senior High School in Jamasi, and finished at Juaben Senior High School in 1984, where he led the school choir. His song "Lumba Lumba", written for South Africa's freedom fighters, gave him his stage name.

Lumba Brothers

He moved to Germany after secondary school and there met Nana Acheampong. Together they formed the Lumba Brothers, and their only album, Yee Ye Aka Akwantuom, came out in 1989 after financial delays. Its title track became a hit in Ghana and the duo helped popularise burger highlife, the style Ghanaian migrants were making in Germany.

Solo career

His first solo album, Obi Ate Meso Buo (1990), included "Theresa", written for his former girlfriend. He recorded at the Rheinklang studio in Düsseldorf and released at least one album a year until 2010 on his own label, Lumba Productions. He also produced other artists, among them Felix Owusu and Ofori Amponsah. In 1999 he won three Ghana Music Awards, including Album of the Year and Most Popular Song, and in 2000 he was named Artiste of the Year. His songs, sung mostly in Twi, dealt with love, marriage, money, poverty, grief and faith.

He openly supported the New Patriotic Party. His 2008 song "Nana Ye Winner" was used in the party's campaigns in 2008, 2012 and 2016, and he recorded "4 More For Nana" for Nana Akufo-Addo's 2020 re-election. In September 2022 he opened DLFM, a Twi-language radio station in Accra.

Honours

He won the Icon/Legend of Entertainment award at the 2018 EMY Africa Awards, and in October 2023 the German Ambassador to Ghana presented him with a Borga Highlife Lifetime Achievement Award. On 30 December 2024 he received the Grand Medal at the National Honours and Awards. In 2025 King Charles III included "Mpempem Do Me" on his Commonwealth Day playlist on Apple Music.

Death and family dispute

He died suddenly early on 26 July 2025 at The Bank Hospital in Cantonments, Accra. A planned tour of the United States and Canada, his first there in more than 20 years, was cancelled the same day. His death was followed by disputes within his family. On 25 November 2025 the High Court in Kumasi recognised both Akosua Serwaa Fosuh, whom he married under German law, and Priscilla Ofori, known as Odo Broni, whom he married under customary law, as his surviving wives. A last-minute injunction on 12 December 2025 briefly halted preparations for his funeral in Kumasi before it was lifted the same day.

He had three children with Akosua Serwaa and six with Odo Broni. Musicians including Sarkodie, King Promise and KiDi have named him as a major influence.