King Sunny Ade says “My Family Didn’t Support Me Going Into Music”

Nigerian Afropop singer Sunday Adeniyi popularly known as Sunny Ade, says his family didn’t support his decision to be a musician, because only unserious people at the time chose music as a career.

The popular singer made this known when he visited Temidara Onafuye, his nine-year-old fan, in Lagos on Sunday.

Onafuye, a primary school pupil who is based in North Carolina, USA, visited Nigeria for the Christmas and New Year and said she wanted to see the musician.

While answering questions from his young fan, 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”.

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

“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.”