Rhythm of Nations

How former West African star Peter One returned to music on his solo debut, Come Back to Me.

- JIM BEAUGEZ

SECOND CHANCES IN music don't come often, but Nashville-based singer-song writer Peter One is living proof that lightning can strike twice. In the 1980s, in the West African country of Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), One ascended to fame playing music inspired by regional Afrobeat artists, folk luminaries such as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and classic country singers like Don Williams. Along with his collaborator, Jess Sah Bi, One played to thousands of fans at soccer stadiums and festivals, and entertained several presidents of African nations. In 1990, the duo's song "African Chant" sound tracked media coverage of anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela's release from a South African prison.

Unfortunately, politics soon played an unwelcome role in One's decades long exile from the music business. Later that same year, he founded the first musician's union in Côte d'Ivoire, while pro-democracy protests broke out across the country. When One became a political target, he decided to try his luck across the Atlantic Ocean.

One landed in New York City, then bounced around a few other places, never quite finding the musical kinship he sought. Unable to restart his music career, despite the success he once enjoyed at home, he eventually settled into a quiet American life, working as a nurse in the decidedly unglamorous world of healthcare.

The story hadn't been all that different in Côte d'Ivoire, though. Despite the fame he had achieved, One knew success wasn't sustainable there. "At that time, musicians were not really living from music," he says. "That's one of the reasons why I focused on my own schooling - to have a good job, to have a career while I was doing music."