Leonard Simbarashe Rwodzi (born 12 April 1999), known professionally as S1mba, is a Zimbabwean-born British singer-songwriter and rapper. He rose to prominence with his single " Rover" featuring DTG, which reached number 3 on the UK Singles Chart as a result of its popularity on the video-sharing platform TikTok, and earned him his first Brit Award nomination for "

Song of the Year Song of the Year may refer to: * Country Music Association Award for Song of the Year * Dove Award for Song of the Year * Golden Melody Award for Song of the Year * Grammis Song of the Year * Grammy Award for Song of the Year * Latin Grammy Awa ...

Early life

Rwodzi moved from Harare to

Swindon Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon un ...

at nine years old before his father was given the job of head gardener at Pusey Estate in

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

. While in Zimbabwe, he was introduced to music through his experiences with

djembe A djembe or jembe ( ; from Maninka language, Malinke ''jembe'' , N'Ko script, N'Ko: ) is a rope-tuned skin-covered goblet drum played with bare hands, originally from West Africa. According to the Bambara people in Mali, the name of the djembe ...

drums and marimbas. In England, Rwodzi formed the foundations of his musical career while at church where he discovered

gospel music Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music, and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music varies according to culture and social context. Gospel music is com ...

. Rwodzi attended Faringdon Community College, in the market town of Faringdon. He then attended New College in Swindon where he studied music production and music technology, eventually recording his debut single "The Plan" in the college's music studio.

Discography

Albums

*2021: ''

Good Time Long Time In most contexts, the concept of good denotes the conduct that should be preferred when posed with a choice between possible actions. Good is generally considered to be the opposite of evil and is of interest in the study of ethics, morality, p ...

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Remixes

Guest appearances

References

Living people 1999 births Zimbabwean emigrants to the United Kingdom Black British male rappers English male rappers 21st-century Black British male singers People from Swindon Parlophone artists Zimbabwean rappers {{England-singer-stub