Congolese music star, Aurlus Mabele has died in a hospital in France’s capital, Paris.
Posts on social media from relatives and friends say Mabele died from coronavirus but this has not yet been confirmed.
Mabele’s daughter who is also French singer, Liza Monet, tweeted on Thursday that that his father died of coronavirus. “I am inconsolable,” she wrote.
A fellow member of the Loketo super group, May Cacharel also said on Facebook that Mabele died of coronavirus.
However, his manager, Jimmy Ouetenou, said that it was not confirmed Mabele died of coronavirus and that he had long-term health problems.
He was admitted to hospital on Thursday and died on the same day.
Mabélé, whose real name is Aurélien Miatsonama, was from Congo-Brazzaville and moved to France in the 1980s.
His hits include the track Embargo.
Mr Ouetenou said talks were already underway with the Congolese government for him to be buried in his home country.
Under his real name Aurélien Miatshonama, Mabélé founded Les Ndimbola Lokole with his friends in Brazzaville and recorded some of the hottest hits that moved the African continent in the 1970s, such as Embargo, Zebola and Waka Waka.
Later, he moved to Paris where he founded another band, Loketo, meaning “hips” in Lingala – the language of most soukous songs, which is widely spoken in western DR Congo and Congo-Brazzaville.
