Latest Release
- SEP 25, 2023
- 1 Song
- Seven Degrees North · 2000
- Juju Music · 1982
- Seven Degrees North · 2000
- Juju Music · 1982
- Juju Music · 1982
- Seven Degrees North · 2000
- Classics, Vol. 2: Ekilo Fomo Ode & the Way Forward · 2001
- Lagos Evergreen Golden Oldies · 2019
- Seven Degrees North · 2000
- E Dide (Get Up) · 1995
Essential Albums
- King Sunny Ade's first international release modernized Nigerian juju, blending it with highlife, dub, and Afrobeat influences. Throughout the album, hypnotically intertwining layers of rhythmically chattering guitars ride a rippling ocean of percussion, with Ade's understated, incantatory vocals dancing gracefully atop. When swooping steel-guitar licks melt into swirling electronic effects on "Eje Nlo Gba Ara Mi," or percolating talking drums give way to giddy highlife guitars on "Sunny Ti De Ariya," the music's summery charms come through bright and clear.
- 2019
- 2010
- 2003
- 2000
Artist Playlists
- All hail the king!
Singles & EPs
- 2023
Compilations
About King Sunny Ade
King Sunny Ade could be considered the Bruce Springsteen of Nigerian juju music: a superstar playing feverish, multi-hour concerts with a large band and holding enraptured audiences in his sway with his voice and guitar. Born Sunday Adeniyi Adegeye to royalty in Oshogbo, Nigeria, in 1946, he began recording in 1967, and he had already become a hero in Nigeria by the time Island Records released Juju Music in 1982 and made him an international star. Ade added instruments like pedal steel and synthesizers to juju’s blend of Afrobeat, funk, reggae, and pop, rendering it even more sinuous and atmospheric. With his second Island release, 1983’s Synchro System, he became the first Nigerian ever nominated for a Grammy. Over the years, his influence grew exponentially and made him an icon around the world, inspiring not only countrymen like Lagbaja and Omoba De Jumbo Beats but also African artists from the wider worldbeat sphere, such as Youssou N’Dour and Papa Wemba.
- HOMETOWN
- Oshogbo, Nigeria
- BORN
- September 20, 1946
- GENRE
- Worldwide