In less than a decade, Ghana, Africa-born musician Selasee Atiase has gone from a cappella singing with buddies on a street corner in the town of Accra to having one of his infectious blends of reggae, pop and West African “Hi-Life” music, “Run,” featured on one of the world’s best-selling video games. The story of the years between is one of determination, hard work and a relentless perseverance in the face of overwhelming odds…traits which have served Selasee well as he prepares to release his first Running Dream Records solo effort, Run.  

Life was hard for the young Selasee on the streets of Ghana, where he’d have to work all day to earn enough for scraps of food while also attending a music school in harsh conditions. But from his teenage years, when he started writing and performing gospel music with a local church group, Selasee has been driven by a desire to share his music with the world. He first attempted to further that ambition by joining a group of local musiciens called Makuma; but while the a cappella group released an album (with no small amount of aid from Running Dream founder Sean Cassidy, who had befriended the musician in 1996), it had always been Selasee’s dream to pursue his own personal musical vision.

With that in mind, he made the big move to America. After a couple of years in Utah and a brief six-month sojourn in southern California during which Selasee worked a variety of odd jobs by day and honed his craft in coffeehouses by night, the increasingly confident musician moved to Boulder, Colorado, where he quickly settled in as lead singer of a world music group called Charlie Sounds. Having kept in touch with Running Dream’s Cassidy, Selasee sent a CD of his work to the music exec, who was so impressed that he promptly signed on as the musician’s manager.