Biography
Sunday Adeniyi, 1 September 1946, Oshogbo, Nigeria. When Ade dropped out of school in 1963 in order to play with semi-professional Lagos juju bands, his parents - from the royal family of Ondo - were horrified. In Nigeria, as in much of Africa, music was regarded by ‘respectable’ people as a very low-caste occupation. Ade’s subsequent national and international success should have mollified such parental disapproval, for his star rose fast and high. By 1964, he was lead guitarist in Moses Olaiya’s highly regarded band the Rhythm Dandies and by 1966, after a short spell with another major band leader, Tunde Nightingale, he had formed his own outfit, the Green Spots, playing a speedy but relaxed style of juju characterized by tight vocal harmonies and deliciously melodic guitar work. The band’s name was a cheeky riposte to seminal juju stylist I.K. Dairo, whose Blue Spots had ruled the juju roost since the early 50s.
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