Yemi Sodimu said the words: ‘I am going to see King Sunny Ade. Do you want to come along’?
What was Yemi smoking? What kind of a question was that? Do I want to come along to see King Sunny Ade? That is like someone telling you I have a meeting with God. Do you want to come along? Of course, yes. If it means dying: Heaven here I come!
Before you say “ARIYA!”, I was in the front seat of the car; on the way to Jibowu to see the King of Juju Music.
A quick background. I was doing part-time public relations for Mainframe Studios at this time. They had worked with King Sunny Ade on a music video. There was some outstanding financial imbroglio (I had waited forever to use that word…sic!). Thus, there was a meeting and time set for the discussion to resolve the issue.
‘We have to pray. The King is known for not keeping to appointments. He is notorious for that’, Sodimu said. Silently, we prayed. God answered our prayers. The King was in his office. He was actually waiting to put an end to the financial imbroglio (dropping that word again!).
It was like I had died and gone to Dubai to become a citizen; in the same room with King Sunny Ade and the legend Sodimu. I was star struck, mouth drooling like a six-month-old baby. He, of course, loved Sodimu (who doesn’t?) and they chatted like old friends. Sodimu advised him to get a cellular phone that was in vogue amongst the rich; to wish the King replied: ‘That will be the death of me. Once people can know my whereabout. I will be a dead man’.
The joke was deep because he had a lot of wives and children that he was trying to hide from.
The meeting ended as one of the best days of my life. I had grown from watching King Sunny Ade those days in Ikorodu where we would be part of the crowd backstage fighting to have a glimpse of him at a ceremony; to being in his office with Sodimu. Someone pour water on me to wake me up from this slumber.
Today we celebrate a legend at 80. Born in Osogbo, Nigeria, he hails from a Yoruba royal family tied to Ondo and Akure through the Adesida dynasty. He started his career in the mid-1960s, playing highlife music before forming his own jùjú group, which evolved into bands like the African Beats and Golden Mercury. He earned the first-ever Grammy nominations for a Nigerian artist.
He changed live jùjú performances by moving his front line to their feet with synchronised dance routines and multi-hour marathon sets. He modernised traditional Yoruba folk music by blending native percussion — such as the gangan (talking drum) — with Western rock and roll, electric guitars, synthesisers, and the electric pedal steel guitar.
He has released up to 120 albums over a career spanning six decades. Individual early albums like his 1967 hit “Challenge Cup” sold over 500,000 copies, and many of his regular Nigerian releases easily exceed 200,000 copies each (though widespread local bootlegging made precise counts difficult). Jùjú music sold around 60,000 to tens of thousands of copies in the United States and the Western markets upon its initial release, while later international albums like Synchro System (1983) brought him global acclaim and Grammy nominations.
The most acclaimed and globally successful juju music album sold worldwide is Juju Music by King Sunny Adé and His African Beats (released in 1982), making him the King of Music in Nigeria.
