World-famous singer and saxophonist Manu Dibango has died from a coronavirus infection at the age of 86 in France, his management team said on Tuesday.
The Cameroonian passed away earlier on Tuesday at a hospital in Paris, where he lived. The news was confirmed via his official Facebook page.
“It is with deep sadness that we announce the loss of Manu Dibango, our Papy Groove, who passed away on March 24, 2020, at 86 years old, further to Covid 19,” read the statement.
According to his biography, Dibango arrived in France in the early 1950s and studied jazz and saxophone in the northern city of Reims, where he started playing in clubs.
Dibango’s biggest hit, “Soul Makossa,” includes the line “mama-say, mama-sa, ma-makossa,” which was later copied, without permission, by Michael Jackson in “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’.” Dibango sued, and the case was settled out of court.
In an interview in 2019, Dibango said the song was now there for all to use. “It has moved beyond me. It is good in a way, once a song becomes a standard, it no longer belongs to the composer but to the person who interprets it,” he said.
Numerous artists have sampled Dibango’s work over the years, including Jay-Z, Jennifer Lopez and The Chemical Brothers.
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