Born in New York City, Cécile Doo-Kingué has lived in France, the USA, and eventually came to call Montreal home. Her parents are diplomats from Cameroon. As the youngest of eight kids in a musical family, she was constantly exposed to various genres and artists like jazz, makossa, soul, rock, and more. By the age of twelve she was playing the guitar.

She has performed and recorded with fellow Montreal artists Jubilation Choir, as well as: Blind Boys of Alabama, James Blood Ulmer, Bernard Purdie, Jim Byrnes, Michael Jerome Brown, Tricia Foster, Scarlett Jane, United Steel Workers of Montreal, Canned Heat, John Prine, Eric Andersen, Angélique Kidjo, Youssou N’Dour and Manu Dibango. She toured her first two albums throughout Canada and Europe, in clubs, listening rooms, and festivals.

In 2008, she began Chick Pickin’ Mondays with Gern F. Vlchek of USWM to promote women and Black singer-songwriters. In 2010, she released her debut album Freedom Calling and was commissioned by CBC the following year to create a song about immigration called “Home”. In 2012, she was awarded the 2013 Foundation SPACQ Edith Butler Award for Excellence in Francophone Songwriting. Following her most recent two albums (Anybody Listening Pt. 1: Monologues in 2015 and Anybody Listening: Dialogues, Pt. 2 in 2016), Doo-Kingué released single “Here With You” with Beckah Amani, in 2021.

Awards

• 2013 Foundation SPACQ Edith Butler Award for Excellence in Francophone Songwriting