King Sunny Adé | |
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| Background information | |
| Born | Sunday Adeniyi Adegeye (1946-09-22)22 September 1946 (age 79) |
| Genres | Jùjú,African pop |
| Occupations | Singer, musician |
| Years active | 1960s–present |
| Labels | Island Records, Sunny Alade,I.R.S.,Provogue, African Songs, Sigma Park, Master Disk |
ChiefSunday Adeniyi AdegeyeListenⓘMFR (Yoruba:Sunday Adéníyì Adégẹyè; born 22 September 1946), known professionally asKing Sunny Adé, is a Nigerianjùjú singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist.[1] He is regarded as one of the firstAfrican pop musicians to gain international success and has been called one of the most influential musicians of all time.[2]
Sunny Adé formed his backing band in 1967,[3] eventually known as his African Beats. After achieving national success inNigeria during the 1970s and founding his ownindependent label, Sunny Adé signed toIsland Records in 1982 and achieved international success with the albumsJuju Music (1982) andSynchro System (1983); the latter garnered him aGrammy nomination, a first for a Nigerian artist. His 1998 albumOdu also garnered aGrammy nomination. Sunny Adé served as boardchairman of the Musical Copyright Society ofNigeria before it got licensed and was later appointed honorary president of the society in recognition of his leadership role in the society.[4]
Sunny Adé was born inOsogbo to a Nigerianroyal family fromOndo andAkure, making him anOmoba of theYoruba people.[5] His father was a church organist, while his mother, Maria Adegeye, was a trader. As a member of the Adesidadynasty, his mother's relatives included ObaAdesida I (who ruled Akure for 60 years).
Sunny Adé left grammar school inOndo City under the pretense of going to theUniversity of Lagos. It was thus inLagos that his eclectic musical career began.[6]
Sunny Adé's musical sound has evolved from the early days. His career began withMoses Olaiya's Federal Rhythm Dandies, ahighlife band. He left to form a new band, The Green Spots, in 1967. Over the years, for various reasons ranging from changes in his music to ba usiness concerns, Sunny Adé's band changed its name several times, first to African Beats and then to Golden Mercury.
King Sunny Ade was influenced by Juju pioneerTunde Nightingale and borrowed stylistic elements from his ‘So wa nbe’ style of juju.
He founded the King Sunny Ade Foundation, an organization that includes a performing arts center, a state-of-the-art recording studio, and housing for young musicians.
He is a visiting lecturer at theObafemi Awolowo University,Ile-Ife, and a recipient of theOrder of the Federal Republic. He is the firstNigerian ever to be nominated for theGrammys.[6]
After over a decade of resounding success in his nativeNigeria, Sunny Adé received great acclaim in Europe and North America in 1982.[7][8] The global release ofJuju Music and its accompanying tour was "almost unanimously embraced by critics (if not consumers) everywhere".[7] Sunny Adé was described inThe New York Times as "one of the world's great band leaders",[9] inRecord as "a breath of fresh air, a positive vibration we will feel for some time to come"[10] and inTrouser Press as "one of the most captivating and important musical artists anywhere in the world".[7] Sunny Adé‘s stage show was characterized by top musicianship, highlighted by his guitar mastery, and dexterous dancing. The live performances were also usually significantly longer than the two hours or less that had become the norm for concerts in North America and Europe.
His next album,Syncro System (1983), was equally successful,[11] earned him his firstGrammy Award nomination in the ethnic/traditional folk recording category, hence making him the first Nigerian Grammy award nominee ever[12]
On 16 July 2017, King Sunny Ade announced that he would be returning to the stage in London alongside his rival actEbenezer Obey for a musical comeback themed A Night 2 Remember with the Legends[13]
In 2017, he was appointed ambassador for the "Change Begins With Me" campaign by the Nigerian Minister of InformationLai Mohammed.[14]
Sunny Adé's music is characterized by, among other instruments, thetalking drum – an instrument indigenous to his Yoruba roots, the guitar and his peculiar application to jùjú music.[15] His music is in the age-old tradition of singing poetic lyrics (ewi in Yoruba) andpraise singing of dignitaries as well as components ofJuju (traditional African belief) called theOgede (casting of spells). Hence, Sunny Adé's music constitutes a record of theoral tradition of his people for posterity.
Sunny Adé introduced thepedal steel guitar to Nigerian pop music. He introduced the use of synthesizers, clarinet, vibraphone,tenor guitar into thejùjú music repertoire such as dub andwah-wah guitar licks. Sunny Adé said he used these instruments not as an attempt to innovate, but as a substitute for traditional jùjú instruments which were too difficult to find and/or impractical for touring.[16] The pedal steel guitar, for instance, was added to his repertoire as a sound-alike for anAfrican violin.[16]
Sunny Adé with his band invented his unique sound and instrumental which he mostly uses as an entrance song during live performances. The sound was made with a phalanx of electric guitars that functions like a percussion section and talking drums that sound like a gossipy Greek chorus.
After the death ofBob Marley,Island Records began looking for another third world artist to put on its contract, whileFela Kuti had just been signed byArista Records. ProducerMartin Meissonnier introduced King Sunny Adé toChris Blackwell, leading to the release ofJuju Music in 1982.Robert Palmer claims to have brought King Sunny Adé to Island's attention, his familiarity being from his life on Malta in the 1960s listening to African Radio and Armed Forces Radio.[17] Sunny Adé gained a wide following with this album and was soon billed as "the African Bob Marley".
King Sunny Ade parted ways with Island records after the production of 1983'sSynchro System and 1984'sAura.[18]
Sunny Ade has collaborated with major artists such asManu Dibango (Wakafrika) andStevie Wonder (who played harmonica onAura), as well as younger Nigerian artists such asWasiu Alabi Pasuma andBola Abimbola.
Sunny Adé's brief period of recordings with Island Records opened the floodgates for other world music artists like SenegaleseYoussou N'Dour,Mali'sSalif Keita, and many others.[19]
In 1987, Sunny Adé returned to the international spotlight whenRykodisc released a recording of a live concert he did inSeattle.[20]
He soon employed an American manager, Andrew Frankel, who negotiated another three-album record deal with the Mesa record label (a division of Paradise Group) in America. One of these albums was 1988'sOdu, a collection of traditionalYoruba songs, for which he was nominated for the secondGrammy Award and thus making him the first African to be nominated twice for a Grammy. Apart from being an international musician Sunny Adé is also prominent in his native Nigeria, running multiple companies in several industries, creating a non-profit organisation called the King Sunny AdéFoundation, and working with the Musical Copyright Society of Nigeria.[citation needed]
In recent times,hip-hop music appears to be holding sway with the electronic media in Nigeria with massive airplay. Nonetheless, Sunny Adé's musical output has continued to inspire a vast generation of other Nigerian musicians, who believe in the big band musical set up which Sunny Adé and lateFela Kuti are noted for.[21] The musicianLagbaja is one of the many musicians whom Sunny Adé's music has inspired. In 2008, his contributions to world music were recognized, as he was given an award for his outstanding contribution to world music at the International Reggae and World Music Awards held at theApollo Theater inHarlem, New York.
At the beginning of another round of tours in the United States and Canada, Sunny Adé, now known asThe chairman in his home country, was appointed a visiting professor of music at theObafemi Awolowo University inIle-Ife.[22] In July of that same year, King Sunny Adé was inducted into the Afropop Hall of Fame, at theBrooklyn African Festival in the United States.[23][24][25] He dedicated the award toMichael Jackson.
In the 1980s, Sunny Adé did some work in Hollywood. His music was featured in the 1983 filmBreathless, starringRichard Gere, and the 1986 comedyOne More Saturday Night, and he acted inRobert Altman's 1987 comedyO.C. and Stiggs. He featured in a fewNollywood movies in the early 2000s.
Sunny Adé has received numerous awards during his career. In November 2016 he became a recipient of theAFRIMA award.[26] In December 2016 he was inducted intoHard Rock Cafe hall of fame.[27][28] He was inducted intoThe Headies Hall of Fame atThe Headies 2020 in February 2021.[29]
| Film | Role | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Breathless | King Sunny Adé (Music) | 1983 |
| O.C. and Stiggs | King Sunny Adé (Music & appearance) | 1985 (Filmed 1983) |
| One More Saturday Night | King Sunny Adé (Music) | 1986 |
| Fifty | King Sunny Adé (Music & appearance) | 2015 |
| Alakada: Bad and Boujee | King Sunny Adé (Music & appearance) | 2024 |
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)| International | |
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