Bebe Cool (formerly Bebe Bunton, real name Moses Ssali; born 1 September 1977) is a Ugandan reggae and ragga musician. He started his career around 1997 in Nairobi, Kenya, but later moved back to Uganda. Cool was one of the first artists affiliated with Ogopa Deejays, a production house and record label in Kenya.
Bebe Cool attended Aga Khan Primary School, in Kampala, Kitante Hill School, and Makerere College School, where he attended school studies, but dropped out of school one year prior to completion. At high school, he studied Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Mathematics at Makerere College School. Bebe Cool started his music career after high school when he was an entertainment prefect.[1]
Bebe Cool is a three-time winner of the Artist of The Year Award at the Prestigious HiPipo Music Awards[2] and won several accolades at Pearl of Africa Music Awards (PAM Awards).[3] He was nominated for the Kora All-African Awards in 2003 and 2005. He has toured in the United Kingdom and the United States.[4] Two of his popular singles are "Fitina" and "Mambo Mingi".[5] He was elected as the finance minister of the Uganda National Musicians' Federation (UNMF) headed by Eddy Kenzo in 2023.[6]
He also collaborated with Halima Namakula, a Ugandan veteran woman musician, on their crossover track "Sambagala".[7] He released two solo albums, Maisha and Sente. His lyrics are in Luganda, Swahili, and English. Together with Kenyan duo Necessary Noize, Bebe Cool formed a reggae group known as the East African Bashment Crew. They have released one album, Fire, and two hit singles, "Africa Unite" and "Fire". The group was nominated at the MTV Africa Music Awards 2008.[8]
In 2013, Bebe Cool had a music battle with one of Nigeria's top artists D'banj in a neutral place, Glamis Arena Harare Zimbabwe.[9] The show was organized under the theme "Battle for Africa".[9]
In 2014, Bebe Cool’s remade "Born in Africa remix song", a remake of the late Philly Lutaaya's song was voted among Africa’s greatest songs of all time.[10][11]
The song came at number 15 in Fifty anthems for the African continent. BBC World Service listeners suggested the African songs that summed up the continent to them.[10] This was to mark the 50th anniversary of the African Union – formerly the Organization of African Unity, From the suggestions, the BBC’s DJ Edu, who hosts a weekly African music show on BBC radio, compiled them into a special five-minute mix of 50 songs from 50 countries.[10]
Bebe Cool has performed in the Big Brother house twice. From 2016 to 2018, there was rising controversy against him for being a chief organizer for Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the president of Uganda who had been described by international media outlets as dictatorial. Ugandans at one time chased him off the stage in a show before he could sing.[12]
Bebe Cool won one Afrima award for the best East African male artist in 2018.[13]
In 2025, Bebe Cool released the song "Circumference".[14]
In January 2010, Bebe Cool was injured when a policeman shot him in the leg.[15][16]
On 11 July 2010, Bebe Cool was performing at the Kyadondo Rugby Club when a bomb set by Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab exploded (July 2010 Kampala attacks). According to him, Most people who died were just in front of him. "The blast was so loud—the next thing I saw were body parts flying over, he said."[17]
Since 2002, Bebe Cool has been married to Zuena Kirema.[18]
In 2008, Bebe Cool performed for the Nelson Mandela 90th Birthday Tribute in Hyde Park, London. He was also named by Nelson Mandela as one of the 46664 African ambassadors.[19] 46664 is a campaign of raising awareness against HIV/AIDS that was initiated by the late Nelson Mandela.[20]
On 3 August 2018, at a concert called The Golden Heart, Bebe Cool fundraised to sponsor five children with heart diseases to receive medical treatment in India.[21][22]
Bebe Cool supported Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni in the 2021 presidential elections in Uganda and also a member of the MK movement project[23]
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