King Sunny Adé, one of the most successful “Jújù” musicians to stand in the Nigerian and African music scene.
Born on the 22nd of September 1946, Sunny Adeniyi Adegeye popular refered to as “King Sunny Adé” was and still is one of the prominent forces behind “Jújù” music. He is a multi instrumentalist, songwriter and also dabbled into acting. He is said to be one of the strong holds and pioneers of the African pop music we have today.
His place of birth is said to be Osogbo located in the western area of Nigeria. He was born into a royal family of Ondo, Akure respectively. His dad was a church organist whilst his mum was a trader. After he was done with Grammer School in Ondo under the pretense of going to study at the University of Lagos he guised himself and harnessed his love for music. Initially he was a band member of the “Moses Olaiye’s Federal Rhythm Dandies” which was a high life band, although he later left to form his own band. In 1967 Sunny Ade formed a band and named it the “Green Spots” at first but due to some business concerns the name was later changed to “African Beats” then later on “Golden Mecury“.
King Sunny Ade admitted that “Tunde Nightingale” who was also a pioneer of the “Jújù” genre was a great source of inspiration to him and his music. His music is greatly characterized by the talking drum which plays a major role in the Yoruba tradition. Alongside the talking drum Sunny Ade played the guitar as an exceptional way to portray the “Jújù” sound. His music can be regarded as part of Yoruba tradition of singing poetic lyrics (ewi) along with Praise songs and African Juju (Ogede). His music was enriched with the representation of his people.
King Sunny Adé was said to be amongst the first African musicians to usher in instruments like: pedel steer guitar, clarinets, vibraphone, tenor guitar and synthesizers into the Nigerian/African music space as of that time. His aim was to substitute these Instruments for the traditional instruments used to make Jújù music because while touring they were difficult to come by so he decided to recreate those sounds using non-traditional instruments.
This man and his band will go head to release various albums which includes the critically acclaimed “Juju Music”. They would get featured on a New York Times article, Trousers Press and go on their very first tour within the shores of Europe and America. His next album with his band titled “Syncro System” would earn him his very first Grammy nomination under the ethnic/traditional folk recording category, making him the very first Nigerian to get a Grammy nomination in history. His stage performances were embellished with great musicianship, his performances usually included dancing and wide use of instruments.
King Sunny Ade signed a recording deal with Island records which propelled the release of their first album titled “African Juju” in 1982 although he would have a fall out with them that would lead to the contract being terminated. This was probably the first musical journey that exposed African music to the world the way it did.
Later on King Sunny Ade would in 1987 to release live recordings of his concerts. When he employed a music manager named Andrew Frankel who was able to negotiate a recording deal with Mesa label which involved the making of three albums. In 1988 him and his band would get another Grammy nomination for one of the albums “Odu” he recorded with the label. He also went ahead to collaborate with artists such as: Stevie Wonder and Manu Dibango. He is also a recipient of numerous awards such as AFRIMA and was inducted into the Headies Hall of Fame.
King Sunny Ade was said to have gone on tour in America sometime in 2009. On July 16, 2017 he said he would return to the London stage alongside Ebenezer Obey for a musical Comeback titled “A Night 2 Remember With the Legends”. Asides from that he also dabbled into acting in Hollywood in movies like: Breathless, One More Saturday Night and OC and Stiggs.
Currently King Sunny Ade is currently a visiting lecturer at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and is a recipient and holder of the Order of the Federal Republic Member title.
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