Prince Eyango emerged from the African music scene in the late ’80s to become one of the continent’s most popular musicians. Born in a rural, mountainous region of Cameroon, far from the center of African pop music, Prince Eyango’s talents were recognized at the age of seven when he began singing in the church where his father was a pastor. In addition to singing, by the time he was 17 he had mastered the intricate arpeggio guitar style practiced in Cameroon, and was already turning his attention towards updating makossa, the traditional Cameroonian music that had always been played with a slow, soft beat.
By 1982, Prince Eyango had revolutionized makossa music by transforming it into a much more danceable form, and his group, Les Montagnards d’Afrique (the Mountain Dwellers of Africa), were performing nationwide. A move to Paris netted him a recording contract and access to state-of-the-art studios, which led to the creation of his biggest hit, « You Must Calculate, » in 1987. From this hit, Prince Eyango was named « Best Artist of the Year, » Cameroon’s highest musical honor, awarded by the Minister of Culture. By 1991 he had achieved a « Number One » music rating on the powerful, transcontinental Africa No. 1 Radio.