Pedro Henriques Lisboa Santos, famously known as C4 Pedro, is an Angolan musician, performer, guitarist, and composer born on the 7th of July 1983 in Luanda, Angola and raised in Belgium. His stage name, C4 Pedro, means ‘Cry for People’. Pedro’s parents are Rosa Pedro Henriques and Lisboa Santos. His family is a musical one as his father and brother, Lil Saint are both musicians.
Music Career
C4 Pedro’s musical journey began while he was still in Belgium. He sang alongside his brother, Lil Saint, in the group titled Brothers Lisboa Santos for ten years before moving back to Angola to pursue his passion as a solo artist. Due to his versatility in music and excellence on stage, he is considered one of the most influential musicians in the Angolan music scene. His style of music is mainly R&B and Kizomba. Due to his prowess in the latter genre, he is popularly referred to as the King of Kizomba. However, he was modest enough to refuse to be called that. During an interview with BBC News, he mentioned that people should stop making it about him and that he wants to make way for other upcoming artists to prosper as well.
This is what he said, “I don’t think it is great to say I am the ‘King of Kizomba’ Come on, no. I just want to keep working, keep pushing and keep opening the doors for other artists. No king here – just a simple singer. That is all I want to be.”
He usually sings in Portuguese but has started singing in English and French. He disclosed that he was pushed to sing in these other languages by the fact that a lot of people love his music but are not able to understand the content. So, he felt the need to sing in their languages. He released his debut album, Lagrimas, with Lil Saint and another one, dubbed Los Compadres, which was a collaboration between him and famous Angolan rapper known as Big Nelo in 2013. His other albums are Calor e Frio, meaning ‘hot and cold’, released in 2011 and King Ckwa released in 2015. The latter received immense recognition in the music scene and became the best-selling album in 2015.
He has worked with a couple of big names in the African Music industry notably; Kenyan boy band, Sauti Sol, South African Dj Maphorisa, AKA, Nigerian Mr. Eazi, Davido, and Ghanaian dancehall artist Stonebwoy. Some of his hit songs include ‘Love Again’, ‘Quero Mais Love’, ‘African Beauty’, ‘Se Eu Soubesse’, ‘Casamento’, ‘Tu Es a Mulher’, ‘Vamos Ficar Por Aqui’, ‘SPETXA ONE’, ‘Baby Tu Sabes’, ‘Muita Areia’, ‘Perder a Fome’, ‘Vou Ter Saudades’, ‘Come Right Now’ among many others.
Awards and Nominations
He won an award at MTV Africa Music Awards in the Best Lusophone Category. He also won three awards in the 2017 edition of AFRIMMA Awards, making him the artist who scooped most awards at the event. In 2016, he was nominated for KORA Awards. Outside Africa, C4 Pedro received an award at MTV Europe Music Awards as the Best African act.