Princess Erika

Born in Paris to Cameroonian parents, Princess Erika began building a career in the 1980s that moves between reggae, ragga, dub, soul and French variété, featuring direct songwriting and rhythms often rooted in Jamaican music. She began with Blackheart Daughters alongside two of her sisters, then continued with Princess and the Royal Sound, a group that notably opened for Dennis Brown. In 1988 she recorded the single "Trop de bla bla" in London, followed by "Tendress" in 1989, before releasing her first, eponymous album Princess Erika in 1992. Her subsequent discography shows several shifts in tone and arrangement, from D’origine (1995) to Tant qu’il y aura (1999), À l’épreuve du temps (2005), Juste Erika (2011) and J’suis pas une sainte (2022). Princess Erika has also collaborated with numerous artists — including Catherine Ringer, Marc Lavoine, Diana King and Didier Sustrac — and participated in collective and charitable projects. Alongside her music, she has developed an acting career in film, theatre and television, notably appearing in Camping Paradis, sustaining a long-standing artistic path without abandoning her reggae and chanson roots.