Ricardo Lemvo

Ricardo Lemvo (born September 3, 1957) is a Congo-born singer of Angolan descent, based in Los Angeles, California. His music combines Cuban salsa with African rumba and soukous. Lemvo grew up in Kinshasa, Congo and moved to the United States at age 15 to continue his education. He graduated from California State University, Los Angeles with a bachelor's degree in political science. In 1990, he formed the band Makina Loca. His first album, Tata Masamba, was released in 1996. Lemvo & Makina Loca appeared in the 1998 movie Dance With Me starring Vanessa Williams and Chayanne. His family is from M'banza-Kongo, in northern Angola. His grandfather, Dom João Mantantu Dundulu N'lemvo, was a baptist pastor who worked with British missionaries in the 1880s. He was also the first Angolan to translate the English bible into the Kikongo language.