Radio de King Sunny Ade

King Sunny Adé (Sunday Adeniyi, born September 22, 1946) is a popular performer of Yoruba Nigerian Jùjú music. With his band, "King Sunny Adé and His African Beats", King Sunny Adé 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. Born to a Nigerian royal family in Ondo, Adé left grammar school to pursue his career, which began with Moses Olaiya's Federal Rhythm Dandies, a highlife band. He left to form The Green Spots in 1967. He formed a record label in 1974, fed up with being exploited by a major label. After the death of Bob Marley, Island Records began looking for another third world artist to put on its contract and Fela Kuti was just signed to Arista. Producer Martin Meissonnier introduced King Sunny Adé to Chris Blackwell, leading to the release of Juju Music in 1982. Still today, this seminal recording is often acclaimed to be one of the most important records in Africa. Adé gained a wide following with this album and was soon billed as "the African Bob Marley". Sunny Adé headlined concerts in the United States. The New York Times described one of Adé's several concerts in New York in the 1980s as one of the most significant pop music events of the decade[citation needed] and Ade as "one of the world's great band leaders"[1] His second album under the cusp of international stardom was Synchro System which attracted many converts of world music. Soon after, Nigerian imports (mostly pirated copies) of his massive back catalog began flooding the Western market. Island, concerned about sales and Adé's refusal to include more English in his repertoire, cut him loose after his third LP, 1984's Aura which featured Stevie Wonder on the harmonica.