Ricardo Lemvo

Who is Ricardo Lemvo?

Ricardo Lemvo is a singer of Angolan descent who lives in Los Angeles, California. His music is a blend African soukous, rumba, kizomba, samba and Cuban salsa.

Lemvo grew up in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo and moved to the United States at age 15 to continue his education. He graduated from California State University, Los Angeles with a bachelor's degree in Political Science.

In 1990, he formed the band Makina Loca. His first album, Tata Masamba, was released in 1996. Lemvo and Makina Loca appeared in the 1998 movie Dance With Me starring Vanessa Williams and Chayanne.

His family is from M'banza-Kongo in northern Angola. His grandfather, João Mantantu Dundulu N'lemvo, was a Baptist pastor who worked with British missionaries in the 1880s. He was also the first Angolan to translate the English Bible into Kikongo.