Steady Bongo

Lansana Sherriff was born in 1966 in Daru, Jawi Chiefdom, Kailahun district, in eastern Sierra Leone. While in school, he admired the songs of stars like Alpha Blondie, Big Fayia and many others. He produced his first recorded album, 'Ready Before You Married' at the MDC Recording Studio, and released it in 1991. Since then, several other albums have been produced to his credit, including the most popular album, 'Kormot Bien Me'. Steady Bongo composes his songs in Sierra Leone's official language (English) and other major local languages (Mende, Temne and Krio). During the years of the war (1991 - 2002), Steady also produced songs to promote peace and reconciliation. He has teamed up with NGOs and USAID for awareness campaigns regarding HIV/AIDS.

Steady Bongo and the Culture Heroes have exhibited musical talent in Sierra Leone and also in Guinea (1992 and 1997), London (1998), the US (New Jersey, New York, Washington D.C., Ohio, and Wisconsin) (2000), and Banjul, The Gambia (2001).

The group is renowned in Sierra Leone. They have performed for the Sierra Leone National Government as well as performed for several refugee and displaced benefits. In collaboration with the NGOs Talking Drum Studio/Search for Common Ground and World Vision (SL), the group embarked on a nation wide sensitisation and confidence building tour in rebel-held towns in 2001. This peace tour visited 10 towns over the course of one month as part of a strategy to facilitate speedy disarmament, and contributed greatly in bringing peace to Sierra Leone.