TRESOR was born on the 24th of April 1987 in
Goma,
Democratic Republic of the Congo. He is one of eight siblings. Orphaned at the age of seventeen, he left his home in 2007 after completing high school. In June 2015, he got signed to
Sony Music. As part of his major label debut, he released the single "Never Let Me Go", which was co-written and co-produced by Matthew Field from
Beatenberg. The song was certified 5× platinum by the Recording industry of South Africa (RiSA). He released his debut album,
VII in September 2015. The album had taken him seven years to compose, it featured collaborations from musicians such as
AKA,
Beatenberg,
Khuli Chana and
The Soil. The album achieved mainstream success and charted #1 dance hit record in
Italy for the singles "Mount Everest" and "Never Let Me Go". The single "Mount Everest" (Freddy Verano Remix) reached #1 on the Shazam trending Global Chart in 2016. The singles were released by
Sony Music and
Ultra Music in the
US and
Warner Music in some parts of
Europe. The album won Best pop album at the
22nd South African Music Awards and was also one of the most nominated albums. He was also nominated at the
2016 MTV Africa Music Awards for Best pop/alternative artist. In 2016, he was invited by British musician
Seal to join his South African tour the week after his
SAMA win. They toured together in
Johannesburg,
Durban and
Cape Town. In April 2017, he signed a partnership with
Universal Music under his company Jacquel Entertainment Group. He then released his sophomore album
The Beautiful Madness in May 2017. The album won Best afro pop album at the
24th South African Music Awards four months after its release. In 2019, he released his third album
Nostalgia. The album won Best Afro Pop Album at the
25th South African Music Awards in 2019. It featured musicians such as
AKA,
Kwesta,
Lokua Kanza,
Beatenberg,
Mafikizolo,
The Soil,
Sauti Sol and Msaki. Later that year, he released the single "Sondela" featuring singer
Msaki, the single was nominated for record of the year at the
26th South African Music Awards. In June 2020, he announced the release of his fourth album
Motion. The album features singles such as "Thril" and "Zwakala" which were already released at the time. The single "Zwakala" was sampled from
Ray Phiri’s "Stimela". In April 2021, he released his album
Rumble In The Jungle, which featured South African
amapiano producers Kabza De Small and
DJ Maphorisa. On September 3, 2021, he released the single "Light House" in collaboration with Da Capo and
Sun-El Musician. The song entered Channel O Top 30 at number 15. Tresor contributed a cover of the Metallica song "
Nothing Else Matters" to the charity tribute album
The Metallica Blacklist, released in September 2021. "Lighthouse" is the lead single off his highly anticipated fourth solo studio album,
Motion, which was released on 15 October 2021. The album was nominated for best Afro pop album at the
28th South African Music Awards. He also wrote and produced the single "
Fountains" which featured Nigerian singer
Tems for
Drake's 2021 album
Certified Lover Boy. In April 2022, it was announced that Hunters partnered with TRESOR to establish the Jacquel Culture House platform for upcoming artists. In June 2022, he wrote and co-produced the singles "Currents", "Massive", "Flight's Booked", "Overdrive", "Downhill" and "Tie That Binds" for Drake's 2022 album
Honestly, Nevermind. The following month, Tresor was enlisted on the
Billboard Hot 100 Songwriters list at number 15. In January 2023, he co-wrote and produced the single "
We Caa Done", which features Drake and
Popcaan.
Activism Outside of his work as a musician, he is an ambassador of the Nelson Mandela Children Fund and also a United Refugee Agency ambassador advocating for refugees rights. ==Business ventures==