From Stardom to Squander: Le Band’s Reckless Rise

In January 2017, Le Band was standing on the edge of a decision that could make or break their career. Afro-pop singer and songwriter Charisma, born Fidel Eli Shammah, had just graduated from law school a year before. He had put his legal career on ice to focus on music, a choice that had already caused friction with his family. Now, his groupmates wanted him to invest in shooting a video for their latest track, Number 1.

For Charisma, it seemed like another shot in the dark. "We had tried before – multiple times. We’d spent money, poured ourselves into the music, and each time, the result was the same: our videos barely scraped together 400 views on YouTube. Why should this time be any different?" he recalls with a shrug.

The budget for the video was an eye-watering Sh120,000, far more than anything they had ever spent. Charisma balked at the figure, knowing it meant borrowing money from his parents, who were already disappointed in his decision to pursue music over law. "I didn’t see the point. It was too much for something that seemed destined to fail," he confesses.

But his bandmates—Ken Mwendwa, Joel Maina, and Abel Kiptanui—refused to let him walk away. They saw something in Number 1 that Charisma didn’t, and they convinced him to take the leap. "Deep down, I wasn’t sold," Charisma admits, "but I went along with it. The whole process was a mess. We got shortchanged by the producer, the videographer was impossible to deal with – it felt like everything was going wrong."

Then, the unimaginable happened. The video dropped, and almost overnight, it exploded. Number 1 didn’t just perform; it skyrocketed, catapulting Le Band from struggling students to overnight sensations. "I couldn’t believe it," Charisma says, still in awe. "Suddenly, we were the talk of the town. TV stations wanted to interview us, and our booking rate shot up. Our first big cheque? Sh100,000. That was more money than we’d ever seen in one go. Just months earlier, we were getting paid Sh5,000 for gigs."

With the song dominating airwaves, Le Band found themselves in constant demand. "We were one of the most booked bands of 2017," Charisma recalls with a smile. "Sauti Sol and H_art The Band were the only other big names in the band scene, but they were expensive. If you had a smaller budget, you came to us."

But with fame came temptation, and soon Le Band was falling into a fast-paced lifestyle they couldn’t control. "The hype around us was insane," Charisma admits. "We had fans everywhere. Women were crazy about us, and we didn’t know how to handle it."

Suddenly, money was flowing, but instead of planning for the future, Le Band got swept up in the whirlwind of their newfound fame. "We were young and reckless," Charisma says, shaking his head. "We’d go to clubs for appearances, get paid, and then blow all the money in one night. We’d spend it on women – buying them bottles, paying for their cabs. It became a routine. The money would come in, and we’d throw it all away."

He pauses, a shadow crossing his face as he reflects on those wild nights. "We weren’t saving. We weren’t investing in the band. It was just this cycle of make money, spend money, go broke, repeat."

As the dust settled, reality hit hard. Despite their success, Le Band found themselves struggling to fund their next projects. Every new video or gig required hustling for cash because they had nothing left from their previous earnings. "Looking back now, I realize we were financially illiterate," Charisma admits with a tinge of regret. "We were making good money, but we didn’t know how to plan for it. We were too caught up in the fast life."

Now, years later, Charisma reflects on the highs and lows of Le Band’s meteoric rise. "Fame is a powerful drug," he says thoughtfully. "It blinds you to reality. We were too young to know any better, and we paid the price for it."