About

Gazza

Musician/Band

Lazaruz Karandu Shiimi (born 10 March 1977) known by his stage name as Gazza, is a Namibian kwaitomusician from Oshakati. As a soccer lover, he nicknamed himself Gazza after famous English soccer player Paul Gascoigne. He is one of the most commercially successful recording artists in Namibia. Gazza is one of the best selling musicians in his country.

Gazza established his self-named music company Gazza Music Productions in 2003, which gained popularity in 2004. Gazza has worked with popular Namibian and South African musicians and producers including The Dogg, Elvo, DJ Cleo, Sunny Boy, Brown Dash, Mandoza, Ees, and Zola to name a few.

Early life[edit]

Karandu was born and raised in Othika a small town near Oshakati. He attended "Etosha High School" inTsumeb, where his interest in music was exemplified through his involvement in several choirs and his fascination with kwaito. After completing his high school he went to study marketing in Cape Town, South Africa where he developed love for kwaito music.

Music career[edit]

After returning from studies in South Africa, Gazza decided to do music in his home country Namibia. As an upcoming musician, Gazza would experiment with a variety of music genres. In 2003 he met producer Elvo and a young upcoming artist The Dogg. The later formed a professional duo with Gazza out of mutual respect and recorded their first hit "Ghetto Life" with the help of Elvo. That song would later steer the relationship between the two. Gazza released another hit song titled "Tanauka". He again teamed up with The Dogg for his other two hit songs "M'china".