De Frank Professionals

Born De Frank Kakrah in 1953 in Lomé, a border town between Togo and Ghana, he started out in music as a percussionist, but later moved on to drums and eventually became a singer. Difficulties in keeping a consistent line-up together meant that De Frank passed from one group to another until in 1976 he formed The Professionals. At that time all the kids in Ghana were influenced by Fela Kuti, Wilson Pickett, Willie Bobo and the musicians who had played at the memorable Soul to Soul. De Frank followed suit, but added more of a disco style to his sound and his attire, which, with his kung fu shoes and number-52 flares, turned him into a west-African version of Simon El Africano. Endorsed by the DJs of Accra, who saw him as just right for the time, he had several hits, especially his album Psychedelic Man. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.