Congolese musician Tabu Ley dies of stroke

Veteran Congolese musician Pascal Tabu Ley Rochereau has died in a Belgium hospital.

His former band manager, Mr Mekansi Modero, who is now based in US said a close member of the musician's family called him confirming the death.

Nyboma Mwandido, a fellow musician who lives in Paris also confirmed the death of the veteran crooner, which occurred on Saturday at 8 am in Brussels, Belgium.

Tabu Ley has been critically ill in the Belgium hospital where he was undergoing treatment for a stroke he suffered in 2008. The stroke left him confined to a wheelchair.

The performer, whose popular hits like Muzina, Maze and Sorozo rocked millions of fans in Africa, was a celebrated musician, whose songs continue to enjoy airplay years after they were released.

In the past, Tabu Ley unsuccessfully tried his hand in politics, after he was appointed a Cabinet minister by President Laurent Kabila in 1997 and a later nominated to parliament.

Earlier, the Rhumba artiste, who refused to be President Mobutu Sese Seko's court poet, was forced into exile.

In the last couple of years, he has been living in Paris, France receiving medical care. In recent months, he was taken to Belgium for specialised treatment.

Tabu Ley is is one of the few of his generation of musicians, who included Joseph Kabasele, alias Grand Kallé or Nicolas Kasanda, alias Nico.

He launched his career in Kinshasa in 1959 both as a composer, signer and dancer, in Joseph Kabasele’s African Jazz Band and officially ended it in 2009.

Tabu Ley composed around 2,000 songs and produced 250 albums.