FA

"War is Hell," General William Tecumseh Sherman famously observed after waging a whole bunch of it.

F.A. agrees.

Unlike Sherman, the Liberia-born, R&B auteur grew up surrounded by armed conflict, a fortunate non-causality of the unrest that wracked his home country from 1980 until 2005, when the election of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf effectively restored democracy and peace to Africa's first English speaking nation. Miraculously, F.A. passed through childhood and adolescence physically intact, his surroundings stable enough for him to learn piano, drums, guitar, and a number of other instruments while absorbing the music of Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and a host of other American soul legends. Still, the young Monrovian had to regularly endure the loss of friends and loved ones. Not to mention that building a musical career is tough when you never know whether the building you're scheduled to perform in--or yourself--will be around tomorrow.

Like Emmanuel Jal and M.I.A., F.A. grew up young and early in a war torn country. Naturally, he turned to music as a way of escaping the turmoil and frustration that goes hand in hand with civil war. Knowing that he needed to get out of his surroundings not only for his career, but for his family and survival, he came to Minneapolis after spending two years at a refugee camp in Ghana, around the turn of the century.

Since his arrival, he's been busy honing his songwriting and performing chops, opening for many well known touring acts such as Freddie Jackson, KC & JoJo, Anthony Hamilton, and Jeremih. Along with continuing his hard work on-stage, F.A. has been busy working on his "Trilogy" of EP's titled "Foreign Affairs" which includes three distinctive EP's chronicling the stages of his musical growth: Discovery (5/25/10), Journey, and Exile.

With "Discovery's" release date fast approaching (May 25th, 2010), F.A. is hard at work recording tracks for "Journey" and "Exile" and preparing to hit the road to tell his fascinating story through music.

As he remembers his past in a war torn country, he looks toward his future not only as a talented and passionate artist, but as an artist with a message.