Added: Mar 27, 2017
Origin: Juba, South Sudan
Genres: Afro – Pop, Dance, Zouk and RnB
Years Active: 2011 – Present
Associated acts: King Saha, Mr. Lengs, Dj Cent, Compo Crew and Slaughter Man.
Members: 1.Nicky Prince Born Siliman Musa
- Mantani Born Murye Alex
- Linus Born Ochwo Junior Linus
Hardlife Avenue Stars is a South Sudanese Afro-pop and dance band formed in Juba by Vocalist Nicky Prine born as Siliman Musa and Rapper Mantani born as Murye Alex in 2011. Initially a duo, then Linus de genius born as Ochwo Junior Linus joined later in 2016 after a series of collaborations like kilo kwen kulek, offside and the popular yau de.
Hardlife Avenue Stars released their debut studio album “Lost Culture” in 2012 to critical acclaim. Their second studio album “Yau De” was released on 4 november 2014, earning the group a number of accolades and nominations in the process. On 3rd april 2015, the group did their first album launch dubbed “Yau De” which from then established them as a house hold name in south sudan with their fans relating them to the “Sauti Sol” of Kenya and the “Radio and Weasle” of Uganda.
The band has had successful tours in south sudan and part of Uganda’s west nile region claiming a huge attention with their videos being played on Ugandan charts in both Televisions and Radios.
The Band received a lot of awards and nominations within South Sudan for their chart topping album “YAU DE” which includes MTN/EYE RADIO AWARDS, DVA AWARDS, EYE RADIO AWARDS 2014, TOP 7@7 AWARDS.
HISTORY
Formation and Early Years
The Band was formed in 2011 as a duo by Nicky Prince and Mantani who had met through Mantani’s brother who was a great fan of Nicky Prince’s high school acappela group, at that time he returned from Khartoum, Sudan and had wanted to form a group to start a professional album release; that led to them collectively agreeing on the name “Hardlife Avenue” as a reference to how hard their childhood struggle was.
They released their first studio album “Lost Culture” as a duo and attained a first start prominence in the industry leading to a lot of charts in the country, the album was mainly produced by Linus de genius. In 2013 they did their first collaboration “Kilo Kwen Kulek” with producer Linus followed by “Better”, Offside and Yau De respectively. These successful collaborations led the duo to include Linus de genius officially into the group making them a trio in 2016 that changed the group’s name to “Hardlife Avenue Stars”.
The band is currently working on their third studio album “I’M BLESSED” scheduled to be launched this year 2017.
DISCOGRAPHY
Studio Albums
- Lost Culture (2012)
- Yau De (2014)
- I’m Blessed (2017)
AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS
WON NOMINATIONS
MTN/EYE RADIO AWARDS 2015 1 4
D.VA AWARDS (BEST VIDEO) 2015 1 2
TOP 7@7 CITY FM 2014 2 2
TOP 7@7 CITY FM 2015 1 1
DREAM FM CHARTS 1 1
