275 Times July 2017

Watching La Coco’s
performance at the
Vodafone Pacific
Music Awards last
month, I was in tears.
I couldn’t stop telling
her parents how good
she was. We were all so proud.
6
An opportunity for you to come meet our staff, explore our facilities,
and talk to staff about why we believe Bader Intermediate is the right
school for your child. Enrolment packs will be available on the night.
There will be a free BBQ, so don’t worry about dinner,
just come on down and say Hi, check us out and make an
informed decision about the next steps for your child.
By Shirl’e Fruean
Her given name is Latoia Virginia Sasa-Tepania, but
her granddad nicknamed her ‘Coco’ when she was just
a week old – “because she looked more Samoan than
Māori”, her mum says with a chuckle. That’s how she
came up with the stage name ‘La Coco’.
Her love of music was evident from a very young age.
At three years old, she was already singing in church
services, and since then there’s been no turning back
from pursuing her dreams.
Luckily, the Māngere singer is also passionate about
learning. To make the most of her natural talents, she
studied both music and performing arts after leaving
school – as well as earning a Bachelor of Education.
I remember meeting La Coco at a hip-hop gig on Ponsonby
Road in 2010. Her bubbly personality was the first thing I
noticed, but after hearing her sing, I fell in love with her
beautiful, soulful voice.
Listening to her sing, it’s hard to believe that she has
achalasia, a rare disorder of the aesophagus that affects
her ability to do simple things like eat and drink. The
condition is tough to deal with, but
she gets through with the support
of close family and friends, her
faith, and her focus on her music.
The results speak for themselves:
at this year’s Pacific Music Awards,
La Coco was nominated for Best
Pacific Artist, Best Gospel Artist
and Best Produced Album.
It was a massive achievement.
“To have even performed
on the stage in my first
year – with all my music
family – was an answered
prayer”, she says. “There’s
nothing I wanted to do
more than to perform
my testimony piece,
with the man upstairs
at the centre of it all.”
If you want to hear
this talented artist for
yourself, you’ll find her
first EP (Love and Other
Things), on iTunes
and Google Play.
She is currently working
on a video for ‘Enough’,
her next single from the
forthcoming EP Love and
Other Things Part 2.
La Coco performs at the 2017 Vodafone Pacific Music Awards
in Manukau. (Photo: James Ensing-Trussell / Topic)