Production Details

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Fely’s repertoire — also which included traditional West African and Afro-Cuban and Afro-Columbian sounds — was unusual for her generation, and made her stand out among her hip-hop and pop-influenced peers. Latin sounds in particular resonated with her, as they did with a previous generation of hitmakers all over Africa — and were the key to her early success. In 1996, at the age of 19, Fely released her first album Amour Perdu, as an independent artist distributed by Jat Music, a local subsidiary of EMI. This was followed by a second album in 1998, which launched her career internationally with her hit song “Mon Espoir” (My Hope), for which she won best music video for three months in a row on the national TV. The video featured American Actor Tiny Lister, best known for his role as “Deebo” in Ice Cube's legendary Friday movies.... to learn more, please visit her website.

Artist Biographies

Fely Tchaco
San Francisco based Award winner and Billboard Nominee is a Singer Songwriter and Performer. In 1996, at the age of 19, Fely released her first album Amour Perdu, as an independent artist distributed by Jat Music, a local subsidiary of EMI. This was followed by a second album in 1998, which launched her career internationally with her hit song “Mon Espoir” (My Hope), for which she won best music video for three months in a row on the national TV. The video featured American Actor Tiny Lister, best known for his role as “Deebo” in Ice Cube's legendary Friday movies. In 1998 Fely was one of the “100 Most Influential Women in Cote d’Ivoire" by AMINA magazine; but she had already set her sights even higher, relocating to the U.S. in 1999.  After taking the time out to establish her residency, learn English, and pursue her education at City College of San Francisco, Fely returned to recording, releasing her American debut album,  De Zere Gnan in 2004. This was followed by the Awareness EP in 2008 and the album Maturite in 2011.  In 2012 Fely’s song "Goba" from the album Maturite won an Independent Music Award in the World Beat category. Another song from the same album, "Toilata", received an honorable mention in the International Songwriting Competition in 2010, where Fely was among the top 10 finalists out of over 15,000 entries worldwide. Fely has collaborated with renowned composers such as Jerry Martin, former audio director at Electronic Arts. Serge Bile, an international author and journalist based in Martinique. In 2016 Fely was invited by Bay Area musician Freddy Clarke to participate in a musical humanitarian trip to Greece, to perform and tour Syrian refugee camps, in celebration of the volunteer workers supporting the the refugees. Leye Felicite Martin -- known to her fans as Fely Tchaco -- is an Ivorian-American singer-songwriter and performer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Born Felicite Leye Tchaco in the town of Yamoussoukro in the West African nation of Côte d'Ivoire, Fely began singing and dancing at a tender age - first entertaining her parents and their friends with impromptu house concerts, before moving on to bigger venues. At the age of 15, Fely began sneaking out to sing with local bands in her hometown, eventually joining the house band at the Hotel President in Yamoussoukro. Soon after she began singing in the piano bars of the coastal resort town of San Pedro, where she began adding covers of Edith Piaff, Nana Mouskouri, Mirielle Mathieux, and other French chanson stars into her act. Fely is an entrepreneure phylanthropist, a wife and a mother. She is the founder of AFRICAN ARTS ACADEMY a nonprofit organization specialized in the production of crosscultural events and also focuses on the teaching of arts and crafts orginiating in africa. Her latest album YITA was released in the Spring of 2021. Fely is currently working on her next album so keep your eye out for that.