King Sunny Ade

Nigerian Juju Music Legend

Born: September 22, 1946, Oshogbo, Ondo State, Nigeria What Bob Marley is to Jamaican reggae music, so King Sunny Ade is to Nigerian Ju Ju music. Having released more than a dozen albums in some years his discography totals far more than 100 albums. Ade is a superstar of cosmic proportions in his homeland. And he is quite literally a king, being a member of the royal family of Ondo. Apart from leading his 20 member band The African Beats, he also ran a record label and the Ariya Nightclub in Lagos, where he and the band played four hour sets. King Sunny Ade came on the scene in 1966 and made his first record in 1967. He became an international star across Africa during the mid-1980s, touring and gaining a significant audience in the United States and Europe as well. He is known as 'the Minister of Enjoyment' or 'the King Of Juju Music' (Juju is the prime popular music of the Yoruba people).