Geraldo Pino

The acknowledged godfather of Afro-beat, Sierra Leone native Geraldo Pino laid the foundation for the West African soul and funk revolution of the 1970s. Born Gerald Pine in Freetown on February 10, 1939, he was the son of a Nigeria-based attorney. After the sudden deaths of his mother and sister, he rebelled against his father by embracing music, co-founding the Heartbeats in 1961. The group's repertoire of American pop covers quickly caught on with local listeners, and soon the Heartbeats emerged as one of the highest-paid bands in West Africa, regularly headlining Freetown ...