Afric Simone has been born in Inhambane, small city in Mozambique (Africa), in October 1939. Soon after his birth, his parents moved to Brazil. But after his father’s death Afric, his mother and two younger sisters moved back to Mozambique, and settled in Xiampane, the suburb of Maputo. Afric, who was at that time 9 years old, had to leave school and to start working, to help his mother and sisters. He was doing baby-sitting in the family of local doctor – and was constantly singing for the baby.
At the age of 15 Afric and his friend moved from Xiampane suburb to the center of Maputo, and started their studies as masons and brick-layers. After the lessons have been over, Afric and his friend, in order to earn some money, performed at the city streets: played guitar, sang and danced. A manager of one of Maputo’s hotels has noticed two talented young provincials, and invited them to perform in the hotel restaurant. So since then Afric was having three jobs at a time: on the weekend he was playing guitar and singing in the hotel, and during the working week he was working as a mason during the day and performing on the street in the evenings. At that time, the artist performed under the stage name Kid Kid. Slowly he gained the local popularity: people started to recognize him on the street, and even the local newspaper wrote about him. Then the young musician was noticed by a professional music manager from South Africa.
Afric Simone is a multi-talent, and multi-instrumentalist. He was playing guitar, percussion, singing and dancing. And even though he was not lacking the shows performing the songs composed by others, at a certain moment he decided to record his own song."Only these last few months have we been taking it seriously and produced something special. Then things went on like mad".
Between 1965 and 1971, Simone released - under the artistic name Monsieur Afrique - 5 singles: Black Dynamit in 1965 on Ariola, El Matador in 1969 on Teldec, Washboard man (with Harana, Simone's first self-composed song, on side B) in 1970 on Polydor Records and Ich bin der grösste Lacher also in 1970 on Telefunken, and Feuer Feuer Feuer in 1971 at Hansa Records.
In 1972 the single Barracuda was released under the artistic name Simon el Africano. The single brought Afric #1 in charts of many South American countries. After that Afric has started to spend more time performing in South America, especially in Brazil. He had to learn to sign autographs.
In 1973 Afric’s manager decided to go to London, hoping that European market will give more opportunities for African artist. In 1974, the single Barracuda was re-released in Europe – now under the artistic name Afric Simone. The expected break-through didn’t happen, but Afric and his manager have faced European show business, gained new experience and were able to realize better what music style might work.
In Paris one of the Afric Simone’s performances was seen by a record producer Eddie Barclay, who has immediately offered him a recording contract. In 1975, when Afric’s next
single, Ramaya was released by Barclay Music in France and became a success, by selling more than 300.000 copies. The series of concerts throughout France followed and Afric was presented with a gold record on French television by Charles Aznavour. The highlight of Afric’s success in France was a four-week contract at the Paris concert hall Olympia. Ramaya also reached #2 in Netherlands, #3 in Belgium, and #5 in Sweden.
Afric Simone speaks Africaans, German, English, Portuguese, Spanish and French. He says: “Language can’t be a problem if the rhythm, the music and the sound are alright. “Ramaya” is a perfect example: although nobody knew what it meant - everybody liked it.”
In 1975 the next single, Hafanana, was released. It became one of the very few international songs, officially released in Soviet Union – and it gained for Afric an everlasting popularity in nearly all post-Soviet countries.
Hafanana — it means approximately the same, like “take it easy” in English: relax! If someone has a problem, people in Mozambique say to this person “Hafanana”, and in Kenia “hacuna matata”. This word has many different meanings… And the lyrics can be translated approximately like this: "Hey, what do you think? You think you’ve better than me? I do not think so. You are president, I am not – hafanana! You have money, I do not have anything – hafanana. But one day a white man will die, and I will die – hafanana. We will be absolutely equal – hafanana. It will not be important if you are black or white; no wars, no conflicts – hafanana”
In Greece and in Soviet Union a track in Spanish called Todo pasara, Maria was released on the B-side of the single Hafanana; because of that, this song became Afric’s second biggest hits in USSR. In July 1977 Afric Simone performed in German Democratic Republic, at the television program “Ein Kessel buntes”.
In 1978 Afric’s album has been released in former Czechoslovakia; as a result, he was invited a few times to perform for Czech television (in a program moderated by Karel Gott) – where he surprised the spectators with fire tricks while performing Curare.
Later this year, Afric has recorded a duo with Czech star Helena Vondráčková:
In April 1982, Afric Simone performed in Budapest (Hungary) at the Budapest Sports Hall (which has burned down later in 1999), in the company of the Dutch female trio, Babe and Vulcano. In April 1982, Afric Simone performed in Budapest (Hungary) at the Budapest Sports Hall (which has burned down later in 1999), in the company of the Dutch female trio, Babe and Vulcano. Simone’s song China Girl was covered in Japan by Hiro Nagasawa 's band HERO, and was used as the image song for the Japanese release of the movie Fistful Spirit, starring Jackie Chan.
In 1996 in Yakutsk (Russian Federation) Afric has been invited to visit the local shaman after the concert. That shaman has made some ritual that would, presumably, help Afric to live healthy till the age of 100. Judging from the fact that, despite of his age, Afric goes jogging outside every day, the magic is still working! In 1999 Afric Simone took part in the festival Tavria games in Ukraine. He still remembers the charter plane, that the festival organizers have hired, to bring the artists from Kiev to the festival ground near Kakhovka. Afric thought that «this aircraft was ready to fall apart in the air» - and refused to fly back, insisting on driving back to Kiev (approx. 500 kilometers on the far-from-perfect Ukrainian roads)
In 2003 Afric Simone took part in the second festival Discoteka 80s, organized by the Moscow-based radiostation AvtoRadio. The festival took place at Luzhniki stadium, and has been broadcasted by the first channel of Russian television on New Year’s Eve.
In March 2005 Afric Simone took part in a project “Melodies and rhythms from Europe in Kremlin». During this project Russian artists have performed the songs from international participants, and vice versa. Afric Simone has performed – together with a Russian singer Evgeny Osin – the song called Our neighbour, originally recorded by a polish singer Edyta Piecha in 1968:
In October 2006 Afric Simone performed in Israel – with such artists as Patty Ryan, Bad Boys Blue and Systems in Blue. In 2012 Afric took part in the festival Legends of Retro FM, that has taken place in Olympic Stadium in Moscow (maximum capacity 35.000 spectators), in Russia.
The collaboration with the Retro FM radio station has continued: in October 2014 Afric has celebrated his 75th birthday on board of cruise ship Liberty of the Seas, during a Retro FM cruise – together with the Austrian band Joy and Spanish duo Baccara.
In October 2017 Afric has performed in Mogilev, Belarus, at the festival Golden Schlager. Next to the cultural palace of Mogilev he has planted a maple, that became part of the Alley of stars. In March 2018 Afric has for the first time performed in Chisinau, Moldova, at the concert Retro Legends (part of the 10-days Martisor festival).
In February 2019 Afric Simone has performed – alongside with many European and Russian artists from 80s and 90s – at Discoteka Avtoradio festivals, that took place at Velodrom in Berlin and at ISS Dome in Dusseldorf, in Germany. In March 2020, shortly before the pandemic, Afric Simone performed in Kiev, in Ukraine – with
such artists as C.C.Catch, Didier Marouani and Liz Mitchell. In July 2022 Afric Simone performed at the festival Discoteca 80 in Cluj, in Romania.
In October 2023 Afric Simone has performed at the festival Arena Retro Party in Budapest, in Hungary. On December 31, 2023 Afric Simone performed in Tbilisi, capital of Georgia, together with his friends from duo Ottawan.