Sonny Okosun

Sonny Okosun was born Francis Sonny Okosun on the first of January 1947 in Edo State, Nigeria, a son of the Edo (Esan) people. He spent his earliest years with his grandmother near Irrua before moving to Enugu, in the Eastern Region, to join his parents, where his father worked with the Nigerian Railway Corporation. The family knew hard poverty, and his formal schooling ended early; but the boy carried a gift that no want could quiet.

Drawn to performance, Okosun joined the Eastern Nigerian Theatre in the mid-1960s, led a covers band, and in 1969 played alongside the guitarist Victor Uwaifo. In 1972 he founded the band that would carry his name across the continent. He called it Ozzidi — evoking an Ijaw river deity, though to him it meant simply "there is a message." Out of it he forged a sound of his own: a synthesis of Afro-beat, reggae and funk, rooted in his Edo heritage.

From 1977 Okosun turned that sound toward the liberation of his people. His single "Fire in Soweto" became an international hit and his first gold record, an anthem against apartheid that moved through South Africa's townships even where the state tried to silence it. Songs of Pan-African freedom followed, and in 1985 he lent his voice to the "Sun City" protest recording against apartheid.

In later years he embraced the Christian faith, recording gospel and founding the House of Prayer Ministries in Lagos in 1998. He died on the twenty-fourth of May 2008 in Washington, D.C. May the fire he lit for a free Africa be honored, and his message remembered.