Sekou

Sekou Sylla was born on September 18, 2004, in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, a small town in Leicestershire, England, to a British-Ivorian family^[1]. He grew up watching his mother work four jobs as a single parent after his father was largely absent, a sacrifice he has credited with fueling his drive to succeed^[2]. Music entered his life through church, where his mother exposed him to artists like Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, and Stevie Wonder, and where he sang in the choir before performing at school talent shows^[3][4]. He discovered his distinctive baritone voice at sixteen.

At sixteen, Sekou left Leicestershire for London, sleeping in a hostel while he built a following posting covers on TikTok and SoundCloud^[2]. A message on Facebook led to a deal with the independent label Good Soldier Records, and by 2023 he had signed to Universal, releasing his debut single, a piano ballad written about his father^[2]. That year he also appeared on BBC Two's Later… with Jools Holland, and in 2022 he played Glastonbury after being personally selected by Arlo Parks^[1]. His debut EP, Out of Mind, followed in 2023, featuring collaborations with producers Dixson, Sounwave, and Al Shux^[1].

Sekou became one of the youngest artists ever nominated for the BRIT Rising Star award and was shortlisted for BBC Radio 1's Sound of 2024^[1][3]. He has toured in support of SZA, Renée Rapp, and John Legend, and has collaborated with Central Cee, Kevin Abstract, and Justin Bieber^[1][3][5]. In late 2025 he released his debut mixtape, In a World We Don't Belong (Pt. 1), a five-track project built over eighteen months that traces a journey from social dislocation to self-definition, drawing on his experience of often feeling like an outsider growing up as a Black boy in the UK^[3][4]. He earned a MOBO Award nomination for Best Newcomer in 2026^[1].

Sekou has resisted being labeled simply a singer, preferring “musician,” a term he uses to describe ambitions spanning songwriting, visual presentation, and performance^[5]. He cites Motown as less a sound than an entire aesthetic and cultural sensibility he hopes to revive for a new generation^[4], and has described a shift in his songwriting from the melancholic tone of his early work toward more upbeat, feel-good material after moving through a difficult period in his life^[3]. His single “Dangerous Lover” (2026) became his most internationally visible release, charting in Germany and reaching the top twenty in Japan^[1].