King Sunny Ade, original name Sunday Adeniyi Adegeye, is today few years shy of 80. Platforms Africa’s Scott Matthew, in this special report, unveils how the juju legend has been able to manage fame and his five wives
He has refused to age. Ade The sage, born in Osogbo on September 22, 1946, seems not ready to live the stage. Sunday Adeniyi, who is few years shy of 80 is living a life full of lessons for everyone; musicians, dancers; actors, and, of course, those who need tutorials on how to manage fame and family. He has five wives with zero scandal in the press for over 60 years that he has captured the global music stage like a colossus.
His Early Years
“King” Sunny Ade enjoyed noble status not only through birth into the Yoruba royalty of southwestern Nigeria but also through popular acclaim as the “King of Juju” since the late 1970s. In his youth Ade played highlife, a type of urban dance music that emerged in Ghana in the late 19th century and blended elements of church music, military brass-band music, sea shanties, and various local African traditions. In the mid-1960s Ade abandoned highlife for juju, a related musical genre that arose in Nigeria in the 1920s as an expression of the urban Yoruba working class.
READ ALSO: Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III: A King, His Will And Widows
Dinka Ethnic Group: Tales of World’s Tallest Tribe
Marry, Divorce or Die, You Have Fingers To Lose; Damn Tale of Dani Tribe
Ovahimba and Ovazimba: African Tribes Where Free Sex Is Offered To Guests
Kuburat Elegbede Cash Madam, Tale of Mathematician They Call Socialite
He assembled his own juju band, the Green Spots, which he later renamed the African Beats, reflecting the re-Africanization of the genre that had been occurring since the early 1950s in conjunction with a growing sense of nationalism. Prior to Ade’s formation of the African Beats, one of his most notable predecessors, I.K. Dairo, had already modified juju through incorporation of Yoruba “talking” drums—which replicate the tones of Yoruba language—and through extensive use of the call-and-response vocal structure that is typical of the traditional music of many sub-Saharan African peoples, including the Yoruba. Upon this musical foundation, Ade laid a tapestry of guitar voices infused with the rhythmic and melodic colours of rock and roll.
The Man of Musuc
Ade’s early albums with the African Beats, most notably Sound Vibration (1977) and The Royal Sound (1979), were tremendously successful, and, when the press declared Ade the King of Juju in 1977, the title became integral to his professional persona.
26 Year-old Nigerian Breaks US Varsity Record In PhD Aerospace Studies
READ ALSO
Liverpool Thrash Bournemouth 9-0, Equal EPL Record Win
Meet Prof. Ighedo, Nigerian Who Broke S’Africa Varsity 148-Yr Maths Record
JUST IN: Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan Breaks Women 100m Hurdles’ Record
UI, OAU, FUNAAB Break Records In World Best University Rankings
In the early 1980s Ade signed with Island Records, and the release of Juju Music (1982) propelled him, his band, and juju into the international limelight. Ade’s next album with Island, the synthesizer-enriched Synchro System (1983), drew an even more thunderous response and prompted a surge in international bookings. By the mid-1980s Ade had exposed much of the non-African world to Nigerian juju.
After his separation from Island in 1985, Ade focused his musical activity at home, at which time he also began to shift the topics of his lyrics from the ills of Nigerian society to more-intimate matters of personal struggle. Although he maintained a tight schedule of recording and performances in Nigeria, he continued to make intermittent appearances abroad on the rapidly expanding world music concert and festival circuit, where both he and juju music continued to enjoy a strong following.
Man of Women
He his happily married with five wives but they rarely step out with him in public, and as thus, so not many people know about his “marital life”. But on January 7 2018, he shared a photo on his Instagram page, striking a post with all of them and wrote, “My Women Crush Wednesday”. King Sunny Ade (KSA) turned 70, Thursday, September 22, 2016.
READ ALSO: FAPEF Names Adeola Yusuf Panelist for Africa Economic, Financial Forum
Call Them Yewa Or Egbado, This Is Their History
Ovahimba and Ovazimba: African Tribes Where Free Sex Is Offered To Guests
Award-winning Nigerian Journalist, Adeola Yusuf, leads Platforms Africa Team
Below are some memorable photos in the life of the king.
The outcomeof his songs is a subtle shift in Adé’s sound: tighter, brighter, lusher, and more detailed. His Nigerian releases extend songs to fill entire LP sides, or segue them into long medleys. King Sunny Adé G.M.A., a self-released 1980 set on his Sunny Alade label, presented the original “Ja Funmi” (titled “Ori Mi Ja Fun Mi”) as an 18-minute suite. But at the request of Island’s Chris Blackwell, Juju Music featured individuated tracks, fresh recordings of catalog songs ranging from three to eight minutes long. Tempos were scooched up slightly, mixes more layered and filigreed, while dub effects (by reggae vet Godwin Logie) added extra buoyancy and stoner ambiance.
Platforms Africa
