Zambian born, British bred singer songwriter, Katongo, has been writing songs since the age of 11. Her musical style is best described as afropop. This comes through in her self released debut EP entitled "My Way" which is packed with dance influenced tracks laced with African drums and Caribbean rhythms that instantly grab your attention and showcase her ability to deliver meaningful lyrics with strong, yet soothing vocals. With fan favourites such as "Tonight", “So Good” and "Something Bout the Way" it's understandable why this up and coming artist continues to garner media attention.
Throughout 2012 and 2013 Katongo's songs 'Tonight' and 'So good' enjoyed regular play on, Amazing radio, Nottingham 97.5 Kemet fm and Shoreditch radio (England), Beat 99.9 fm (Nigeria) Flava Fm (Zambia) to name a few. In 2014 her New single, JOY, which features J.K, has seen her get regular airplay on Naija FM, Beat 99.9 fm Nigeria and Zambia’s Power fm, Hot 87 fm, Flava FM and Q-fm.
Alongside her music, Katongo enjoys doing charity work and has been aligned with the charity ‘Africans United Against Child Abuse’ (AFRUCA). Recognised as a supporter of the charity, Katongo, alongside other speakers, has spoken at the House of Commons on two occasions. Katongo is also the co-founder of Pamoja Women’s Foundation with her sister Kanta Temba.
Furthermore, Katongo is also an international model and has appeared in International music videos and Adverts as well as beauty and entertainment magazines (Cocogal UK, Poize Magazine Nigeria, Promota Magazine and EZM).
It is a very exciting time in music right now as Katongo’s music has been getting a lot of recognition. Her music video ‘Tonight’ peaked at no 17 on Oljo, the popular online German Music Video Chart, ahead of famous artists like Calvin Harris, Ne-yo and David Guetta. Additionally, her latest single ‘Joy’ has gone on to peak at number 7, on the Beat 99 FM Radio Nigeria and Naija 102 fm Radio. Not only does she have an ever growing worldwide audience, she is also already recognised as one of the 20 most successful Zambian women in the UK and she has now signed her first music writing deal with UK Publishing Company Speegra Music UK. The singer has also garnered praise from the likes of Simon Cowell who featured and recognised her as a top talent in his ‘You Generation’ talent search. Over the last few months the singer has enjoyed collaborating with Afrobeat artists such as J Martins from Nigeria and JK, a musical legend from her home country, Zambia.
Furthermore, this December, Katongo has been crowned a winner of the UK Songwriting Contest 2014. Expert judges praised Katongo for writing 'Make A Change', an inspiring reggae style song about finding strength within ourselves to make a positive change to the world.
It is clear to see that this is just the beginning for Katongo. In 2015 she will be on tour in Africa and will also be releasing more music for the world to hear. Stay tuned.
