Seeed frontman Demba Nabé has died aged 46

Demba Nabé, rapper and singer for Berlin band Seeed, has died in the German capital at the age of 46. The musician passed away on Thursday morning, said Christian Schertz, the band's lawyer.

"Demba's death has hit the band deeply," Schertz told the Tagesspiegel newspaper, adding that Seeed needed time to grieve and that they would not, for now, answer any further questions about the circumstances of Nabé's death.  

A single post was left on the Seeed Facebook page regarding the death of the long-time band member who was born in Berlin in 1972: "We mourn our friend and singer Demba Nabé." An old photo of Nabé, who sang in the group alongside Peter Fox and Frank Dellé, was also published.

Fans have taken to social media to mark the passing of the acclaimed rapper and singer who had several artist aliases, including Boundzound, the eponymous name for his debut solo album that reached the top 20 in Germany in 2007 — his latest album, Ear, also another one of his pseudonyms, was released in 2011.

But Nabé built his career with Seeed, an 11-member dancehall and reggae band that was famed for high energy live performances since forming in 1998. In 2001, the band released the massive hit song "Dickes B" (Big B), an ode to the city of Berlin. The band have been successful beyond Germany's borders, headlining the likes of Denmark's Roskilde Festival.

The last Seeed album was released in 2012. Titled Seeed, it went straight to number one in the German charts.

In March this year, band member Peter Fox said the group was working on new material. And last month, Seeed announced a tour for the fall of 2019. According to the Tagesspiegel, several concerts were sold out within 30 minutes, with the online ticket service crashing due to the huge demand.

sb/eg (AFP, dpa)