Meet the Music Ministers

King Sunny Ade

Sunday Adeniyi popularly known as King Sunny Ade was born in September 22nd, 1946. Is a Nigerian musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and a pioneer of modern world music. He has been classed as one of the most influential musicians of all time. He was recently appointed as the “Change Begins With Me” campaign ambassador by the Nigerian minister of Information Lai Mohammed. Adé was born to a Nigerian royal family in Ondo, thus making him an Omoba of the Yoruba people. His father was a church organist, while his mother was a trader. Adé left grammar school in Ondo under the pretense of going to the University of Lagos. There, in Lagos, his mercurial musical career started.

Sunny Adé’s musical sound has evolved from the early days. His career began with Moses Olaiya’s Federal Rhythm Dandies, a highlife band. He left to form a new band, The Green Spots, in 1967. Over the years, for various reasons ranging from changes in his music to business concerns, Sunny Adé’s band changed its name several times, first to African Beats and then to Golden Mercury. In the 1970s and 1980s Adé embarked on a tour of America and Europe. His stage act was characterised by dexterous dancing steps and mastery of the guitar.

After more than a decade of resounding success in his native Nigeria, Adé was received to great acclaim in Europe and North America in 1982. The global release of Juju Music and its accompanying tour was “almost unanimously embraced by critics (if not consumers) everywhere”. Adé was described in The New York Times as “one of the world’s great band leaders”, in Record as “a breath of fresh air, a positive vibration we will feel for some time to come” and in Trouser Press as “one of the most captivating and important musical artists anywhere in the world”.

His next album, Syncro System (1983), was equally successful, earned him his first Grammy Award nomination in the ethnic/traditional folk recording category, hence making him the first Nigerian Grammy award nominee ever

On July 16th 2017, King Sunny Ade announced that he would be returning to stage in London along side his rival act Ebenezer Obey for a musical comeback themed A Night to Remember with the Legends. Sunny Adé’s music is characterised by, among other instruments, the talking drum – an instrument indigenous to his Yoruba roots, the guitar and his peculiar application to jùjú music, that would easily put him in the same class as guitar musicians like Santana. His music is in the age-old tradition of singing poetic lyrics (“ewi” in Yoruba) and praise of dignitaries as well components of Juju (traditional African belief) called the Ogede (casting a spell). Hence, Adé’s music constitutes a record of the oral tradition of his people for posterity.

Sunny Adé introduced the pedal steel guitar to Nigerian pop music. He introduced the use of synthesizers, clavinet, vibraphone, tenor guitar into the jùjú music repertoire such as dub and wah-wah guitar licks. Adé said he used these instruments not as an attempt to innovate, but as a substitute for traditional jùjú instruments which were too difficult to find and/or impractical for touring. The pedal steel guitar, for instance, was added to his repertoire as a sound-alike for an African violin. After the death of Bob Marley, Island Records began looking for another third world artist to put on its contract, while Fela Kuti had just been signed by Arista Records. Producer Martin Meissonnier introduced King Sunny Adé to Chris Blackwell, leading to the release of Juju Music in 1982. Robert Palmer claims to have brought King Sunny Adé to Island’s attention, his familiarity being from his life on Malta in the 60s listening to African Radio and Armed Forces Radio. Adé gained a wide following with this album and was soon billed as “the African Bob Marley”.

Sunny Adé has said that his refusal to allow Island to meddle with his compositions and over-Europeanise and Americanise his music were the reasons why Island then decided to look elsewhere. Sunny has collaborated with major artists such as Manu Dibango (Wakafrika) and Stevie Wonder (played harmonica in Aura), as well as younger Nigerian artists such as Wasiu Alabi Pasuma and Bola Abimbola.

Sunny Adé’s brief recordings with Island Records opened the floodgates for other world music artists like Senegalese Youssou N’Dour, Mali’s Salif Keita and many others. In 1987, Sunny Adé returned to the international spotlight when Rykodisc released a live concert he did in Seattle and was given an astonishing embrace by fans across the globe who were eager for another international album release.

He soon employed an American manager, Andrew Frankel, who negotiated another three album record deal with the Mesa record label (a division of Paradise Group) in America. One of these albums was 1988’s Odu, a collection of traditional Yoruba songs, for which he was nominated for the second Grammy Award and thus making him the first African to be nominated twice for a Grammy. Apart from being an international musician Sunny Adé is also prominent in his native Nigeria, running multiple companies in several industries, creating a non-profit organisation called the King Sunny Adé Foundation, and working with the Musical Copyright Society of Nigeria.

In recent times, hip hop music appears to be holding sway with the electronic media in Nigeria with massive airplays. Nonetheless, Sunny Adé’s musical output has continued to inspire a vast generation of other Nigerian musicians, who believe in the big band musical set up which Sunny Adé and late Fela Kuti are noted for. The musician Lagbaja is one of the very many musicians whom Sunny Adé’s music has inspired. In 2008, his contributions to world music was recognised; as he was given an award for his outstanding contribution to world music at the International Reggae and World Music Awards held at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York. At the beginning of another round of tour of the United States and Canada , Sunny Adé, now known as The Chairman in his home country, was appointed a visiting professor of music at the Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife. In July the same year King Sunny Adé was inducted into the Afropop Hall of Fame, at the Brooklyn African Festival in the United States. He dedicated the award to the recently deceased Michael Jackson. In the 1980s Adé embarked on a career in Hollywood. His music was featured in the 1983 film Breathless, starring Richard Gere, and the 1986 comedy One More Saturday Night, and he acted in Robert Altman’s 1987 comedy O.C. and Stiggs. Sunny Adé has received numerous awards during his career. In November 2016 he became a recipient of the AFRIMA award.

Dr Ebenezer Obey

Ebenezer Remilekun Aremu Olasupo Fabiyi was born on 3rd April, 1942 in idogo, Ogun State Nigeria.

Obey is of an Egba–Yoruba ethnic background. He is of the Owu subgroup of the Egba.

He began his professional career in the mid-1950s after moving to Lagos. After tutelage under Fatai Rolling-Dollar’s band, he formed a band called The International Brothers in 1964, playing highlife–jùjú fusion. The band later metamorphosed into Inter-Reformers in the early-1970s, with a long list of Juju album hits on the West African Decca musical label.

Obey began experimenting with Yoruba percussion style and expanding on the band by adding more drum kits, guitars and talking drums. Obey’s musical strengths lie in weaving intricate Yoruba axioms into dance-floor compositions. As is characteristic of Nigerian Yoruba social-circle music, the Inter-Reformers band excel in praise-singing for rich Nigerian socialites and business tycoons. Obey, however, is also renowned for Christian spiritual themes in his music and has since the early-1990s retired into Nigerian gospel music ministry. He is the founder of Decross International Church

Tope Alabi

Tope Alabi was born on the 27th October, 1970 in Lagos State, Nigeria. Her parents are Pa Joseph Akinyele Obayomi and Madam Agnes Kehinde Obayomi. She was the only daughter out of the three children in the family.

She hails from Yewa, Imeko of Ogun State. She obtained her West Africa School Certificate (WAEC) at Oba Akinyele Memorial High School, Bashorun Anlugbua, Ibadan in the year 1986. Thereafter, she proceeded to the polytechnic, Ibadan to study Mass Communication and graduated in the year 1990.

Tope Alabi pursued her educational attainment with all seriousness and dedication it deserves because her parents were disciplinarians of the highest order.

Between 1982 to 1984 during her secondary school days, and because of her interest in music and drama, Tope Alabi joined the then “Jesters International” (Jacob, Papilolo & Aderupoko) group at Ibadan, where she got her initial training and experience in drama.

She worked briefly with the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Ibadan as a correspondent under the supervision of Mr. Yanju Adegbite. Between 1990 & 1991, she worked briefly at NTA Channel 7 Tejuosho (Now NTA Channel 10, Lagos) and also Centrespread Advertising Limited within the year 1991 – 1992.

Patricia Temitope Alabi came back into the Theartre Art profession as she joined the prestigious “Alade Aromire Theartre Group” in 1994.

During her period at Alade Aromire Theatre, she was able to distinguish herself as a gifted and talented actress and singer, which exposed her to all the core area of drama and acting profession.

She was involved in various film productions, stage drama and most importantly the soundtrack production with which she was well known and considered as an authority in the Nigeria Yoruba Movie industry today.
If there is anything Tope Alabi would be ever grateful for while with the Alade Aromire Threatre Group, it’s her exposure to and subsequent domination of the Yoruba Movie soundtrack production. Tope Alabi has been invited by various writers, producers and directors in the Yoruba movie industry to write and perform sound tracks for their various movies.

She had to her credit to date, about 350 soundtracks, which were composed for various Yoruba movies. It would be of note to conclude that Tope Alabi is the pacesetter of soundtracks in the Yoruba Home Video Industry.

Lanre Teriba

Indigenous gospel musician, Lanre Teriba entered stardom in 2000 with his debut album Atorise (Reformer). While spending most his childhood at church this Ogun State native discovered his vocal gift.

At eighteen, Teriba left home to pursue an Accounting Degree at Federal Poly Chapter Offa in Kwara State. There he joined the university’s Kegites club where he composed and performed music which brought the club members closer to God.

After attaining his degree, he searched for a job for five years to no avail. Teriba decided to use his gift thus he began composing while struggling to raise money for a demo. In 1999 during his pursuit of establishing his music career he came across a promoter, Tunde Olokodana. Olokodana instantly fell in love with Teriba’s demo and he invested in him.

Since then Teriba continues to maintain a unique standard with his infusion of indigenous beats with other sounds called ‘Tungba’. Teriba has staged concerts along with K1 De Ultimate, 9ice, Sammy Okposo amongst others. His unique way of spreading God’s message makes him an outstanding inspirational musician.

To date he has released 15 albums including the latest ‘Unstoppable God.’ Additionally, he remains the most traveled artiste within his genre as he continues to tour across multiple countries in Africa, North America and Europe.

Oladimeji Emmanuel Ayodeji

Oladimeji Emmanuel Ayodeji popularly known as IMAGE. He is a dynamic and skilled music minister who is highly gifted in the area of praise and worship. He started singing at the tender age of Seven. While growing, he was part of the children, teenagers and youth choir of the Redeemed Christian Church of God. He went professional in 2006 after participating in the TV reality show “STARQUEST”.

2006 marked the birth of his first album “Not Afraid” which had soul lifting songs such as Not Afraid ft Kunle Omo Alafin Orun. The video of the song received several nominations which includes the Nigerian Music Video Awards (NMVA) and many more. In 2009, he released his second album “All in All” which featured several artistes like Psalmos, Biyi Samuel, Infinity and many more.

In 2014, Image released the reloaded version of the All in All album, and this has since been selling fast.

This graduate of Fisheries and Aquatic Biology from the Lagos state University is very passionate about his vision of reaching many to Christ through music. He is the convener of programs like Feast of Worship, Gospel According to the streets, Rule your mind summit and Lost in worship.

This Osun born singer has been privileged to minister in several programs both within and outside the country. He has shared stage with several gospel ministers such as Nathaniel Bassey, Sammie okposo, Benjamin Dube, Cwesi Oteng, Big Bolaji Tope Alabi and many more.

His Energy and special ways by which he brings down God’s presence has made him a delight to watch in various programs.

He is married to his beautiful wife Yinka and they are blessed with a son Israel.

Dare Justified

Dare Justified is a recording an award winning music artist. He is an international gospel music minister of unruffled grace who has been privileged to witness, first hand, out pouring of the Holy Spirit and startling healing and miracles while ministering. A gifted vocalist and a worship leader, he serves as praise and worship leader cum music director at This Present House, Lagos Nigeria, under the leadership of Dr. Tony Rapu. He ministers the verities of the kingdom through his music and praise meetings. He took his nation by storm as music youngster when he emerged as the winner of the Patriotic Song for his country at Arise Nigeria Musical Competition; a Talent hunt Competition organized by CBS, owners of TV Continental and Radio Continental.

Dare was born in Lagos Nigeria into a family of eight and had his primary and secondary education in the suburb of Lagos. After his secondary education, before proceeding to further his study in the university, he was advised to learn carpentry work but He had a different dream; to lead God’s people into His presence through music. Growing up, his zeal for God was overwhelming and was always found in church singing in the choir alongside his music group. Music, especially praising God is like oxygen to him and this endeared him to many local churches’ pastors in his country where he had shared several platforms.

He has graced the stage, locally and internationally with many of today’s renowned musicians and gospel artist like Ron kenoly, Don Moen, Frank Edward, Jmoss, Kim Burrell, Tasha Cobs, Lionel Peterson, King Sunny Ade, Nathaniel Bassey, Tim Godfrey, Sammie Okposio, Timi Dakolo, Cohbams Asaquo, Tope Alabi, Midnight Crew, Pernam Percy Paul, Eben, Elijah Oyelade, Tosin martins, Nosa et al. He was Global Excellence Artist of the Year 2012 and also was awarded a lifetime ambassadorship of Junior Chambers International, a body affiliated with the United Nations in over 500 countries of d world.

Dare Justified is the host of Winning Praise. Winning praise is an inter-dependently organized praise meeting by Dare Justified across churches locally and internationally. The program is often organized in partnership with churches and ministries across the globe as a medium for making many experience the garment and the power of praise. His praise meetings have the tremendous impact on local churches and often spark the fire of revival amongst many congregations.

Olanrewaju Bolaji

Olarewaju Bolaji is a certified Estate Surveyor from a REPUTABLE NIGERIAN higher institution, he however is a full time MUSIC MINISTER, he was converted and raised at the HQ of THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT MINISTRIES under the tutelage of Bishop Francis Wale Oke

His stage name is Big B.