WORLD-FAMOUS singer and saxophonist Manu Dibango has died from a coronavirus infection at the age of 86 in France, his management team said Tuesday.

“It is with deep sadness that we announce the loss of Manu Dibango, our Papy Groove, who passed away March 24, 2020, at 86 years old, further to Covid 19,” read a statement on Dibango’s Facebook page.

Cameroon-born Dibango arrived in France in the early 1950s and studied jazz and saxophone in the northern city of Reims, where he started playing in clubs, according to a biography on his Facebook page.

In the early 1960s, his style of playing took on more African rhythms as he collaborated with Brussels-based musicians from Congo and he began touring in Africa, developing his trademark pumping rhythms.

In the late 1960s, Dibango started his own band, played with a string of French musicians and in 1972 he had a major hit with “Soul Makossa,” a song that brought him international success.

In 2010, Dibango received the “legion d’honneur” medal in his adopted country France. He was diagnosed with a coronavirus infection earlier this month. (SD-Agencies)