King Sunny Ade

Born: September 22, 1946, Oshogbo, Ondo State, Nigeria

Nigerian pioneer of Juju.
His father was a methodist pastor and the organist for his church, while his mother engaged in various trading enterprises and through his maternal grandfather, who lived in Akoure, Ade was of royal lin-eage. By the time he reached his adolescent years had moved with his family to the town of Oshobo, complete primary school but ended up dropping out of secondary school. He joined a band run by the Boys Brigade but his family did not look kindly on Ade's ambitions to commence a career in music, however, in 1962 he to move to Lagos and joined the musical group of singer Moses Olaiya and his Rhythm Dandies in 1963. When Olaiya chose to enter the theater and became an actor, Ade then brought together many former members of the Rhythm Dandies and in 1966 formed his own group, the Green Spots. His first group was a ten-man band, and it originally signed with Tunde Amuwo before Jide Smith. Ade's lyrical subjects ranged from celebrating victories by the Nigerian federal government against Biafran rebels in 1968 to incorporating Yoruba proverbs and Christian messages and also Local soccer clubs became the subject of praise songs. His band cut albums with the African Songs Ltd label owned by wealthy businessman Bolarinwa Abioro between 1967 and 1972 when Abioro and Ade split over royalties and financial arrangements. Renamed his band the African Beats in the same year and set up his own record label, Sunny Alade Records, in 1974. By 1979, his group had expanded to roughly twenty members and featured expensive synthesizers, tenor guitars, and many dancers. Reggae music record label Island Records owner Chris Blackwell to sign the African Beats beetwen 1982 and 1984 then Ade continued to tour Europe and the United States on occasion from the mid-1980s to the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century. Eventually, the African Beats broke up, but Ade formed new bands, like Golden Mercury and The Way Forward. In the early twenty-first century, he became head of the Nigerian musicians' union and spent much of his time fighting the rampant piracy of music in his country. Sunny Ade has borne a series of titles during his career, including Master Guitarist, King, Minister of Enjoyment (M.O.E.) and Golden Mercury of Africa (G.M.A.).