About King Sunny Adé
Chief Sunday Adeniyi Adegeye (Yoruba: Sunday Adéníyì Adégẹyè; born 22 September 1946), known professionally as King Sunny Adé, is a Nigerian jùjú singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He is regarded as one of the first African pop musicians to gain international success and has been called one of the most influential musicians of all time. Sunny Adé formed his backing band in 1967, eventually known as his African Beats. After achieving national success in Nigeria during the 1970s and founding his own independent label, Sunny Adé signed to Island Records in 1982 and achieved international success with the albums Juju Music (1982) and Synchro System (1983); the latter garnered him a Grammy nomination, a first for a Nigerian artist. His 1998 album Odu also garnered a Grammy nomination. Sunny Adé served as board chairman of the Musical Copyright Society of Nigeria before it got licensed and was later appointed honorary president of the society in recognition of his leadership role in the society. Over the years, for various reasons ranging from changes in his music to ba usiness concerns, Sunny Adé's band changed its name several times, first to African Beats and then to Golden Mercury. He founded the King Sunny Ade Foundation, an organization that includes a performing arts center, a state-of-the-art recording studio, and housing for young musicians. Hence, Sunny Adé's music constitutes a record of the oral tradition of his people for posterity.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.