Biography
At age 18, Verckys, born Georges Mateta Kiamuangana, became a member of the Congo’s most dominant and influential band: Franco Luambo’s OK Jazz. This relationship was short-lived, however, as Verckys, now a versatile and potent multi-instrumentalist, had plans of his own: the formation of Orchestre Vévé in 1968, with the aim of reinventing and modernizing the Congolese sound. Blending the ever-influential prowess of James Brown with Congolese merengue, rumba, and soukous, Verckys stripped away the conventional approach that OK Jazz had pioneered, allowing his saxophone-laced melodies to dominate. Verckys also began recording young urban artists with guitar-driven cavacha sounds and releasing their work on his label, Les Editions Vévé; Les Freres Soki, Bella Bella, Orchestre Kiam, and others shot to stardom overnight, making Verckys quite wealthy.
Artist descriptions on Last.fm are editable by everyone. Feel free to contribute!
All user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.
