Shatta Wale Biography: Age, Wife, Children

Who is Shatta Wale in Ghana?

Born Charles Nii Armah Mensah, Shatta Wale is a Ghanaian reggae-dancehall artiste, songwriter, actor, entertainer, and record producer.

Shatta Wale — the most decorated African dancehall artiste — is best known for smash hits like ‘Dancehall King’, ‘Taking over’, ‘Gringo’, among others.

The African Dancehall King is the founder and president of Shatta Movement Empire (SM4LYF) record label which has its ultra-modern office located in Accra, Ghana.

Shatta Wale made history on Saturday, April 4^th, 2020, as the first Ghanaian artiste to stage a successful virtual concert dubbed the ‘Faith Concert‘, which was streamed live on Youtube to entertain and bring hope to all Ghanaians and his global audience during the lockdown in Ghana due to the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic .

Read This: Stonebwoy Biography: age, BET awards, children, wife Louisa, SHS, University, hometwon, parents, family, career…

Stonebwoy biography

In 2014, the ‘Dancehall King’ hitmaker won the ultimate ‘Artiste Of The Year’ award at the 2014 Ghana Music Awards.

Shatta Wale was ranked 38 on Etv’s “Top 100 Most Influential Ghanaian” Awards chart in the same year (2014).

In 2019, Shatta had his biggest moments ever in his music career when American R&B legend, Beyonce featured him on “Already” — one of the popular hit songs off her “The Lion King: The Gift” album.

Not only is Shatta Wale a musician, but also a movie actor who has starred in some movies alongside popular Ghanaian actors like Majid Michel and Charles Kofi Bucknor.

Date Of Birth

Charles Nii Armah Mensah aka Shatta Wale was born on Wednesday, October 17^th, 1985.

Age

The ‘Kakai’ hitmaker Shatta Wale is currently 39 years of age and will be 40 come October next year, 2024.

Junior High School & Senior High School Education

Charles Nii Armah Mensah attended Seven Great Princess Academy located at Dansoman in Accra, Ghana.

His love for the arts began when he acted in the then popular Akan drama series “By The Fireside” at the National Theatre of Ghana.

Shatta Wale had his senior high school education at Winneba Senior High School.

The African Dancehall King was popularly known as ‘Baby Boy’ in his secondary school days.

Parents

Shatta Wale was born to Mr. Charles Mensah Snr. and Madam Elsie Evelyn Avemegah at the Police Hospital in Accra, Ghana.

His father, Mr. Charles Mensah Snr. aka Shatta Capo, is a Ga native from Accra who is a businessman, politician, and legal practitioner.

The Mother of Shatta Wale, Madam Elsie Evelyn Avemegah is a Voltarian from the Volta Region of Ghana.

Early Life Struggles and Hardships

Young Charles Nii Armah Mensah lived with his family at Laterbiokorshie, Dansoman before moving to Korle Gono during his formative years.

According to Shatta Wale in a Facebook Live video, he didn’t enjoy any motherly love and care growing up as a kid because a pastor caused a separation between his parents which made him live under the care of his father, and later ending up on the streets.

At an early age, Shatta Wale was introduced to the Jamaican culture by his father who played Reggae music in his house and also continuously travelled with him (Shatta) to the UK to meet and mingle with his half Jamaican relatives.

Shatta Wale’s love for music made him lose interest in going to school but his father had to force him to complete his senior high school education, at least.

His intense passion to do music led to the breakdown of the relationship between him and his father who wanted him (Shatta) to be a lawyer and not a musician.

Shatta Wale, as a result, decided to live in the Ghettos of Nima — a suburb of Accra where a lot of Muslim youths live for survival.

He shared a worst experience of his living in the Ghettos in an interview:

“There were many times I slept without food. I have been through all the hustles in life, I mean hell. I have lived with the people and became one of their own. No wonder my music easily resonates with the people. I am thankful to God for making me see the light of day…”

Children

Shatta Wale is not officially married but has three children — one girl and two boys — with three different baby mamas.

The three kids of Shatta Wale are: Cherissa Nhyira aka Shatta Cherissa,11; Majesty, 5; and Papa Nii, 5.

According to Shatta Wale who spoke with Nana Ama McBrown in a phone conversation on United Showbiz on UTV, his son, Papa Nii, and his mother are currently based in London.

His first child who is a girl is named Cherissa Nyhria Nii Armah aka Shatta Cherissa.

Wife

Shatta Wale has a son named Majesty with his former girlfriend, Michelle aka Shatta Michy.

The former two lovebirds (Shatta Wale & Michy) broke up sometime in 2019 due to some misunderstanding.

Nicki Samonas is one of the finest Ghanaian actresses Shatta Wale has publicly confirmed he has a crush on.

The two sparked dating rumours when Shatta Wale went and kissed Nikki in the audience during his performance at the 2019 4Syte Music Video Awards.

Read This: Efia Odo Biography: real age, marriage, parents, sakawa boyfriends, Shatta Wale, place of birth, education, Slay Queen or a Celebrity?

Efia Odo biography

Other female ‘celebrities’ Shatta wale is rumoured to be dating include the likes of Efia Odo, Afia Schwarzenegger, and Wendy Shay.

Music Career

Growing up as a kid, Shatta Wale was exposed to Jamaican culture by his father who played Reggae music in their home, and also continuously travelled with him (Shatta Wale) to the UK to familiarize with his half Jamaican relatives.

Charles Nii Armah Mensah started his music career in his high school days back at Winneba Senior High School where he learnt how to play the keyboard and also received routine vocal training at his school’s music class department.

Shatta Wale was then nicknamed, ‘Baby Boy’. He later changed it to ‘D0ggy’ because of how he adored fellow reggae & dancehall Ghanaian artiste, Yoggy Doggy.

He changed his name to Bandana after senior high school and released the ever popular song, “Moko Ho (Bandana from Ghana)” in 2004 which featured Ghanaian hip hop artiste, Tinny.

He followed it with the hit songs “No Problem”and “Obaa Yaa”.

Wale later released his debut album titled “Bandana from Ghana”.

From 2009—2012: Rebranding Bandana to Shatta Wale 

Shatta Wale, who was then known as Bandana, took a short break from the music industry and traveled to Jamaica to learn more about dancehall, reggae music, and the Jamaican lifestyle as a whole.

After having mastered his art after his journey to Jamaica, Bandana rebranded himself to Shatta Wale.

He started a new career which largely depended on dancehall in a Jamaican style and also built his core fan base from the ghettos of Nima — a suburb of Accra, Ghana, that harbors a lot of Muslim youth in ghettos.

The African Dancehall King released songs almost every day on his social media handles to be downloaded for free and started gaining attention again with songs like “Telephone No”, “Anastasia”, “My Eyes Pon Di Money”, among others.

This approach by Shatta revived dancehall in Ghana — a genre which the likes of Root Eye, General Marcus, Yoggy Doggy, and others years ago had started but could not make it big.

Shatta Wale credits the late Terry Bonchaka and Yoggy Doggy for nurturing him to this point in his music career.

“It was under their tutelage that they told me I was going to blow up and that my style is so unique” Shatta stated in an interview on Peace FM.

From 2013—2015: Shatta Wale releases his breakthrough hit, “Dancehall King”

In 2013, Shatta Wale produced majority of songs and announced his presence with a big bang by releasing the controversial hit, “Dancehall King” that would give him his breakthrough in the music industry in Ghana.

Other hit songs Wale produced alongside “Dancehall King” were “Havana”, “Shatta City”, “Enter the Net”, and “Everybody Likes My Tin”.

He had a successful tour in Canada and the United States of America in 2014.

In May 2014, British Newspaper, The Guardian rated Shatta Wale’s “Wine Ya Waist” featuring Davido among its five must-listened-to new tracks from around the world.

In the same year (2014), Shatta’s “You Can’t Touch Me” song was widely used for the Dancers Against Racism Campaign Worldwide.

In 2015, the “Dancehall King” hitmaker toured Europe, and also shared the same stage with heavyweights like P-Square, Flavour, and some others at the Wembley Arena in London.

From 2016—2018: Shatta Wale “After The Storm & Reign” albums, NAM1’s Zylofon Music signing 

In 2017, Shatta Wale was ranked 27 by C. Hub Magazine’s 100 most influential creatives — an annual cumulative rating for Black creatives around the world by the magazine. The list included the likes of Akon, Stormzy, Anthony Joshua, among many other important personalities.

The release of the “After The Storm” album by Shatta Wale — which had tracks like ‘Kakai’, ‘Mahama Paper’, ‘Hol’ It’, ‘Biegya (Open Fire)’, and ‘Baby (Chop Kiss)’ — was very successful as it stayed atop the charts both locally and internationally .

‘Hol’ It’, for instance, topped BBC Radio 1Xtra’s Afroboss Top 5 songs chart show.

Co-founder of Rockstar Games, Sam Houser said at the time that he was deeply impressed by the performance and popularity of “Kakai” and the buzz it created in the African communities in the United States of America and beyond, topping several dancehall charts globally.

Mr Sam Houser’s wish was that bureaucrats would confirm “Kakai” to be part of the then upcoming Grand theft Auto 6 which was going to make Shatta Wale $744,000 richer annually.

In 2017, Shatta Wale toured the US to promote “After The Storm” album, and also made a trip to Jamaica to shoot videos for projects he had jointly produced with some music producers over there.

In January, 2018, Zylofon Music owned by Nana Appiah Mensah aka NAM1 signed Shatta Wale in a mouth-watering deal.

On October 13^th, 2018, Shatta released his third studio album titled “Reign” at the Fantasy Dome in Accra where he used the occasion to propose to his longtime girlfriend and baby mama, Shatta Michy.

The “Reign” album set a new record by a Ghanaian act after it appeared on the Billbord Top World Albums Chart Show at the sixth (6) position.

From 2019—2020: Beyonce features Shatta Wale on ‘Already’ off her “The Lion King: The Gift” album

The biggest news in 2019 was when Shatta wale got the rarest opportunity to feature on ‘Already’ by American R&B superstar and wife of Jay Z, Beyonce.

The Beyonce-Shatta collaboration received a lot of rave reviews across the globe.

Read This: Beyoncé features Shatta Wale on ‘The Lion King: The Gift’ album…& it’s King ‘Already’

Beyonce

After a year of its release, news of the Beyonce-Shatta collaboration even became the loudest in 2020 when a video was shot for the ‘Already’ song and premiered on Youtube on Thursday, July 30^th, 2020.

The ‘Already’ song by Beyonce featuring Shatta Wale & Major Lazer already has over 27million views on Youtube.

Albums

• After the Storm (2016)
• Cloud 9 (2017, hip hop mixtape)
• Reign (2018)
• Wonder Boy (2019)

Hit Songs

Shatta Wale as a music producer and musician has produced countless major hits in his entire music career.

The notable ones include:

• Dancehall King
• Kakai
• Taking Over
• Mahama Paper
• Hol’ It
• Dancehall Commando featuring Sarkodie
• Party All Night Long featuring Jah Vinci
• Wine Ya Waist featuring Davido (of Nigeria)
• Baby (Chop Kiss)
• Biegya (Open Fire)
• Havana
• Korle Gono
• Shatta City
• Enter The Net
• Everybody Likes My Tin
• Freedom

NPP vs NDC politics: Nana Akufo-Addo vs John Dramani Mahama

Shatta Wale is a ‘smart’ musician who seeks to profit from Ghana’s two major political parties — the New Patriotic Party (NPP) currently led by President Akufo-Addo, and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) led by former President, John Dramani Mahama.

For instance, before and during the heated 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections, Shatta Wale, we understand, cashed in big time on NDC for using his “Mahama Paper” track as their theme song, and also the NPP for using his “Kakai” song to propagate their political agenda.

In 2017, Shatta Wale got the opportunity to pay President Akufo-Addo a visit at the Flagstaff House after the latter (President Akufo-Addo) had, on Twitter, wished the former (Shatta Wale) a happy birthday and asked him (Shatta) to pay him that visit.

President Akufo-Addo tweeted:

“Happy birthday @shattawalegh! You for come visit me for Flagstaff House o!.”

President Akufo-Addo presented to Shatta Wale a gift of Ghana’s Coat of Arms.

Shatta Wale in return composed a song titled “Rado Rado” produced by MOG to ‘honour’ President Akufo-Addo.

Controversies

Shatta Wale, without a doubt, remains the most controversial Ghanaian artiste to date, courting controversies by taking the ‘fight’ to any industry person he deems an ‘enemy’ to the progress of Ghana’s music industry

Whilst some people think his being controversial all the time is ‘positive’ to the game, others think otherwise.

Ever since he got his breakthrough in 2013-2014, Shatta Wale has had issues or ‘beef’ with almost all the top artistes and industry players in Ghana including Stonebwoy, Sarkodie, Samini, Mr Ayoade (CEO of Charterhouse), Mark Okraku Mantey, and many others.

Movie Career

Aside music, Shatta Wale has played some major roles as an actor in the movie industry in Ghana.

In 2014, Charles Nii Armah Mensah starred in the movie “Never Say Never” which featured the likes of Charles Kofi Bucknor, Edward Kufuor, and Paulina Oduro.

In 2016, Shatta featured in “Shattered Lives” alongside highlife musician, Bisa Kdei, and movie star, Majid Michel.

And in 2018, he starred in “The Trial Of Shatta Wale (Kejetia Vs Makola)”.

Philanthropy, Donations, Charity Works

• In 2014, Shatta Wale and his Shatta Movement management team donated items worth thousands of Ghana Cedis to the Children’s Block of Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.
• On February 8, 2016, Shatta Wale donated some items including 3 LED TVs, Wheel Chairs, Beverages, Detergents, among others to the Police Hospital in Accra. He also added an undisclosed cash to save the life of a young girl and also to help with general administrative work at the government-owned Police Hospital. When asked why he chose the Police Hospital, Shatta Wale said: “Today we donated some items to the police hospital in Accra-Osu. Since this was the hospital I was born in, I and my shatta movement management and crew decided to visit the children’s ward. We will be visiting most hospitals as time goes on..#notime #SMTAKEOVA.”
• Shatta Wale and his Shatta Movement management team, on an educational campaign drive dubbed “Shatta Back to School Campaign”, donated some educational materials to some selected schools and this was done in collaboration with the regional unit of the Ghana Educational Service as well as the Techiman Traditional Council.
• Shatta wale, together with Light A Million Lives & Quallo’s Production, and fellow artistes like Gamislla, Epixode, Keche, Dada Hafco made donations to the victims of the twin disasters — both flood and fire — that happened on June 3^rd in Accra which claimed over 100 lives. Items donated to the victims included food, water, sanitizers, antiseptic liquid, wipes, antiseptic soap, clothes, among others.

Endorsement Deals, Sponsorships

In 2014, Shatta Wale was unveiled as one of the brand ambassadors for Guinness Ghana Breweries alongside musicians like Reggie Rockstone, EL, and Fuse ODG for “Made of Black” campaign.

In September, 2017, Shatta Wale signed a juicy deal with Kasapreko Company Ltd — producers of several alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages in Ghana.

On November 17^th, 2017, Shatta Wale sealed a deal with Boss Baker Beef Roll as their brand ambassador.

He was recently also unveiled as the brand ambassador for Storm Energy Drink.

On Wednesday, September 11, 2019, Shatta Wale was announced as the Brand Ambassador for Infinix Ghana — a smartphone company.

Honours, Accolades

On July 8th, 2017, Mayor of Worcester, Massachusetts in USA, Joseph M. Petty presented Shatta Wale with the KEY to the CITY in recognition of his contributions to the arts.

Then on March 18^th, 2018, Shatta Wale received an honoree award for his outstanding contribution to Reggae music in Ghana and globally at the 37^th Annual Chicgo Music Awards (CMA) in conjunction with the 36^th International Reggae & World Music Awards (IRAWMA).

On May 11^th, 2018, Shatta Wale was presented with an honoree award alongside reggae-dancehall superstars like Sean Paul, Sizzla, Jah Cure, Queen Ifrica, Chronixx, Daddy Fresh, Winning Jah, Ben Priest, among others at the Obaland Royal Awards in Nigeria. The Obaland award (plaque) was reportedly valued by specialized anthropologists and museum critics in Benin City and declared to be worth US$34 million. The entertainment firm that held the Obaland awards was owned by King Ewuare II of Benin City, Edo State.

On Wednesday, November 1^st, 2017, Shatta Wale was presented with a gift of the coat of arms of Ghana by the President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo. This came after President Akufo-Addo had wished Shatta a happy birthday on Twitter and invited him to the Flagstaff House.

Awards & Nominations

Shatta Wale has so far garnered over 40 awards and many nominations in his music career.

Check out the link below for all the Shatta Wale awards and nominations:

Read This: Shatta Wale Awards: The most decorated dancehall artiste in Africa

Shatta Wale awards

Twitter

@shattawalegh or https://twitter.com/shattawalegh

Instagram

#shattawalenima or https://www.instagram.com/shattawalenima/

Source: George Awaidem Maclean | BieGyaNation.Com