King Sunny Ade biography | What Is Known About The Yoruba Star

King Sunny Ade is a legend in the Nigerian music industry. His real name is Sunday Adeniyi Adegeye, and he was born on the 22nd of September 1946.

His genre of songs is called Juju. King Sunny Ade is a songwriter and also has multi-instrument talent.

As of today, he remains one of the best as far as African pop music is concerned. He gained international recognition and remained one of the most influential musicians globally.

Table of Contents

King Sunny Ade biography | How he started

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King Sunny Ade’s parents lived in Oshogbo, a town in southwestern Nigeria, when he was born.

He was born into an Ondo and Akure royal Family. Consequently, he is a prince. His father played the organ in the local church, and his mother was a trader.

The name of his mother was Maria Adegeye (nee Adesida). Therefore, his mother was a member of the Adesida Dynasty, Adesida being a king that ruled Akure for up to 60 years.

King Sunny Ade biography | Music career

After graduating from secondary school in Ondo town, King Sunny Ade head to Lagos to begin his music career. When he started, he was a member of Federal Rythm Dandies, owned by Victor Olaiya, a highlife band.

He later left Olaiya’s band to form his own in 1967. He named his new band The Green Spots. The name of his music band was changed several times over the course of his music career.

He first changed it from The Green Spots to African Beats and then later to Golden Mercury.

Hs kind of song got its influence from Tunde Nightingale, who was the first Juju musician ever. He added many stylish elements to his music, and these were consequent of his “So wa mbe” juju style.

King Sunny Ade biography | Collaborations

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King Sunny Ade collaborated with several musical artists in the course of his music career. A god example is Manu Dibango on Wakafrika.

He also collaborated with Stevie Wonder. Other he collaborated with were:

Onyeka Onwenu

Bola Abimbola

Wasiu Alabi Pasuma

King Sunny Ade had a brief recording with Island Records, and this acted as an open door for several other artists, like Youssou N’Dour from Senegal and Salif Keita from Mali.

King Sunny Ade biography | Beyond his music career

As a way of giving back to society, King Sunny Ade founded the King Sunny Ade Foundation. His foundation focused on housing young musicians, providing state-of-the-art recording studios, and performing is center.

King Sunny Ade biography: Image source: Twitter/AlbumTalksHQ

Aside from that, King Sunny Ade is a visiting lecturer at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.

He equally bags an award from the Nigerian government, the Order of the Federal Republic. He is also an actor, featuring in several Hollywood movies.

King Sunny Ade biography | Awards

He received an AFRIMA award in November 2016. Later that year, he got inducted into the Hard Rock Café hall of fame. He was also inducted into the Afropop Hall of Fame at the Brooklyn Africa Festival, United States.