‘My Family kicked Against My Music Career’- King Sunny Ade

Popularly acclaimed as the “King of Juju” since the late 1970s, Afro beats singer Chief Sunday Adeniyi Adegeye popularly known as King Sunny Ade (KSA), revealed his family kicked against his music career “because they believed that musicians at that time were not serious people.”

KSA made the revelation in a sit down interview with his nine-year old fan Temidara Onafuye.

While answering questions from Onafuye, the Legend dived deeper into how he managed to achieve his music success against all odds.

He said : “Apart from singing. I play guitar, keyboard, different percussion instruments including talking drum, “Sakara”, “Omele’, “Konga”; all these make African music stand out.”

“I have passion for guitar, I see it as my baby and I cannot do without it. A couple of years ago, I was rated 69th best guitarists in the whole world.

“I decided to learn how to play guitar on my own and I bought my first guitar when I was 16 years old. I saved money and bought the guitar for myself. All my family members did not want me to play music because they believed that musicians at that time were not serious people

“Eventually. when I bought the guitar I hid it under the staircase. I was afraid to tell anybody that I wanted to go into the city for music training where I would be exposed.

“Luckily for me, I chose my keys and my style of music which is known as Juju.

King Sunny Ade said he has composed more than 3, 000 songs. He added that all his songs were his favourite because “each of them serves a purpose”.

On Retiring

“I wanted to retire sometime ago, but my fans all over the world did not allow me. They said if I retire, what will I be doing,” the 73-year-old musician said.

“Juju music is in my blood, I cannot retire from music, I can only retire from stage. Even at 100 years, God willing, I will still be singing.”