Eko Roosevelt is a Cameroonian musician, pianist and singer with a career spanning more than 50 years. He is also the Batanga chief of the village Lobé near the mouth of the Lobé Falls. He is the son of Dr. William Roosevelt, an American-born pastor of the American Presbyterian Church in Kribi, and of a Batanga mother. His parents sent him to the Institut des métis in Ayos, then to De La Salle College in Douala. There he learned the trade of construction worker. He also received a musical education at the School of Arts in Dakar, the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris and the Conservatoire Musical de Gentilly during the 1970s.
He went to Dakar, Senegal, where he was introduced to the learned world of conservatories. From one show to another, he made a reputation among his Senegalese friends. In the middle of the sixties, he embarked on a cruise around the Mediterranean, singing Johnny Hallyday and Ray Charles, piano and guitar always at his side. His profile as a gifted musician did the rest. He also accompanied Marcel Zanini, the composer of the hit "Tu veux ou tu veux pas". After Dakar, he flew to Paris where he created the group Dikalo, a broth of Afro-funk. In addition to teaching at the Gentilly conservatory, between 1968 and 1974, he accompanied other artists such as Nino Ferrer, Henri Dikosso and made arrangements and dressings for Marthe Zambo, Joe Mboule, Guy Lobe, Toto Guillaume, far from the computer era.
♫ Audio: 1976 – Dikalo – Fine biscuits 2:50
The Havas agency noticed him and asked him to write a song for the first commercial flight of the Concorde between Dakar, Paris and New York. The result was "Nalandi" in 1975, a song that was an unprecedented success, selling over a million singles and going gold. The same year, he released his first album entitled "Nalandi".
♫ Audio: 1975 – Eko Roosevelt – Nalandi 8:22
In 1977, he released the album "Kilimanjaro", and other albums followed. He continued his fight for good music, music made from instruments, but also for professionalisation and traditional roots. From 1976 to 1981 he created his own label "Eko Music" and released nine albums. His fame allowed him to create an orchestra at the request of the Ivorian television. Then in 1979, he was entrusted with the direction of the National Orchestra of Cameroon.
♫ Audio: 1976 – Eko Roosevelt – Kilimandjaro my home 7:28
Since 1992, he has been a professor of music at the Faculty of Arts and Letters in Douala. This work he manages to combine with his various performances in different places, especially at the Meridien Hotel where he plays the piano in the evenings. He is also the father of three children, grandfather of five grandchildren and is married to Nicole Nevez. He performs with cabaret and variety musicians throughout Cameroon and France. In 1992, he was promoted to the rank of Knight and Officer of the Order of Valour, then Officer of the Order of Valour in July 2002 and finally Commander of the same Order in May 2012.
With the growing interest in the music of African artists who have been inspired by funk and disco, Eko Roosevelt's music has also been 'rediscovered' by a new generation of music lovers. This has led, among other things, to the re-release of some of his greatest hits as 12" vinyl singles. Also in 2017, the compilation album "Eko Roosevelt 1975-1982" was released on the Nubiphone Label. And in 2020, British DJ and producer duo Disclosure, consisting of brothers Guy and Howard Lawrence, released a "new" version of Eko Roosevelt's song "Tondo".
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