Fela Kuti, born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti on 15 October 1938 at Abeokuta, Ogun State Nigeria.
Fela, who is also known as Fela Anikulapo Kuti and Fela Ransome Kuti, is a veteran musician, singer-songwriter, activist, multi instrumentalist and pioneer of Afrobeat.
He started his music career in 1958 and is popularly known for songs like: Fela's London Scene (1971), Why Black Man Dey Suffer (1971), Live! (1971), Shakara (1972), Afrodisiac (1973), Gentleman (1973), Confusion (1975), Expensive Shit (1975), He Miss Road (1975), Zombie (1977), Stalemate (1977), No Agreement (1977), Sorrow Tears and Blood (1977), Shuffering and Shmiling (1978), Black President (1981), Original Sufferhead (1981), Unknown Soldier (1981), Army Arrangement (1985), Beasts of No Nation (1989), Confusion Break Bones (1990), The Best Best of Fela Kuti (1999), The '69 Los Angeles Sessions (1969/2010).
The Herald Sun, 2011 said;
"Imagine Che Guevara and Bob Marley rolled into one person and you get a sense of Nigerian musician and activist Fela Kuti."
Fela's songs were also very long, at least 10–15 minutes in length, and many reaching the 20 or even 30 minutes, while some unreleased tracks would last up to 45 minutes when performed live. This was one of many reasons that his music never reached a substantial degree of popularity outside Africa.
He died on 2 August 1997 (aged 58). On 3 August 1997, Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, already a prominent AIDS activist and former Minister of Health, stunned the nation by announcing his younger brother's death a day earlier from Kaposi's sarcoma which was brought on by AIDS. More than a million people attended Fela's funeral at the site of the old Shrine compound. A new Africa Shrine has opened since Fela's death in a different section of Lagos under the supervision of his son Femi Kuti.
For more info on him visit felakuti.net
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