James Dandu (5 July 1970 – 26 August 2002), also known by his stage name Cool James, was a Tanzanian–Swedish rapper and record producer. Born in

Mwanza Mwanza City, also known as Rock City to the residents, is a port city and capital of Mwanza Region on the southern shore of Lake Victoria in north-western Tanzania. With an urban population of 1,182,000 in 2021, it is Tanzania's second largest cit ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

and having finished his primary studies at Kurasini Primary School in

, he moved with his mother and siblings to

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. His professional musical career started in 1988, he released his first musical album in 1992, already a dance-oriented production. In 1993 he got together with another East African named Andrew Muturi to form the group "Swahili Nation". After a while they let a brother of Andrew join the group, and after that yet another brother. James left and joined with a Congolese, Jose Masena and formed the band

Cool James & Black Teacher Cool James and Black Teacher (sometimes ''Cool James and the Black Teacher'') were a Swedish Eurodance band consisting of Cool James and Black Teacher. The band was formed in Solna, Sweden and was signed to Stockholm Records. Their first singles n ...

. They released only two albums, the 1992 record ''Undercover Lover'' and the 1994 record ''Zooming You'', which included the hit song "Dr. Feelgood". A while after the Cool James and Black Teacher band, James moved back to Tanzania and started producing for East African artists as well as working on his own projects. He started the Tanzanian Music Awards in 1999.

Personal life

James had two kids, Caroline-Jamie, who he referred to as Malaika, born 1994, and Michael James Junior, born 1997. He mentioned his kids in nearly all his songs, as well as his

fiancee An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''fi ...

, Devota.am for life. On 26 August 2002 James Dandu died in a car accident in

Dar es Salaam Dar es Salaam (; from ar, دَار السَّلَام, Dâr es-Selâm, lit=Abode of Peace) or commonly known as Dar, is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over s ...

, Tanzania.

References

External links

Cool James
on Myspace 1970 births 2002 deaths Tanzanian rappers Swedish rappers Immigrants to Sweden Tanzanian emigrants 20th-century Tanzanian male singers {{hiphop-bio-stub