Stonebwoy walked down the aisle on 16 June 2017. Sarkodie followed thirteen months later. Between them, two of the biggest names in Ghanaian music set the tone for how a celebrity wedding in the country could look.
Stonebwoy and Dr Louisa: 16 June 2017
Livingstone Etse Satekla, known as Stonebwoy, married Dr Louisa Ansong on 16 June 2017 at Unique Floral, the events venue at the Trade Fair Centre in Accra. She took his family name and is now known as Dr Louisa Satekla.
Stonebwoy has said he met Louisa at KNUST in Kumasi, where he went to perform at a show while she was a student. She went on to qualify as a medical doctor, a detail that made her a frequent subject of fans’ admiration: the dancehall star had married a doctor. Stonebwoy has repeatedly paid public tribute to her on anniversaries, including a message on their fifth anniversary calling her “my dear doctor, friend and best half”.
The couple’s wedding was a celebrity event, attended by stars from music and entertainment, but it also had the feel of a family day. The couple have two children, a daughter and a son.
Sarkodie and Tracy: 17 and 22 July 2018
Michael Owusu Addo, known as Sarkodie, married his long-time partner Tracy in two ceremonies. The traditional marriage took place on 17 July 2018. Five days later, on 22 July, the couple held their white wedding at the Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra.
The white wedding was a private affair by celebrity standards. Much of the public first saw the day through official photographs released afterwards, which spread across Ghanaian and Nigerian entertainment sites within hours.
Sarkodie and Tracy had been together for years before the wedding and already had a daughter, Adalyn. Tracy, known publicly as Tracy Sarkcess, has since become a public figure in her own right, with her own business interests and social media following.
What the two weddings had in common
Both men were at the top of Ghanaian music when they married. Both had fanbases that followed every detail of their lives. And both chose to keep parts of their weddings out of public view, releasing images and clips on their own terms rather than letting the day become a free-for-all.
Both weddings also showed a pattern now common in Ghana: the traditional marriage first, then a church or white wedding, sometimes days apart and sometimes on the same weekend. Couples who follow them today do the same.
Rivals on stage, not at the altar
Fans have argued for years over who is the bigger star, Sarkodie or Stonebwoy, just as they argued over Stonebwoy and Shatta Wale. None of that followed them into their weddings. The photographs from both days show two men dressed for the most important day of their lives, surrounded by family, and far from the award-show arguments.
Stonebwoy’s anniversary falls in June and Sarkodie’s in July. The weddings were thirteen months apart. The fan debates about which man is the bigger artist have outlasted both honeymoons.
