Veteran Juju Musician, General Adekunle Dies

FUNSHO AROGUNDADE

Juju music maestro General Prince Adekunle is dead.

P.M.EXPRESS learnt that Prince Adekunle, one of the pioneers of Juju music, died Saturday morning in Lagos aged 75.

The family has confirmed his demise but silent on the cause of death.

Until his death, General Adekunle was a major innovator and force in the Juju music scene, with his distinctive driving Afrobeat style.

He was known to have discovered and mentored some leading Juju musicians such as Sir Shina Peters, Segun Adewale and Dayo Kujore.

Although he toured in England in the early 1970s, he did not become well known outside Nigeria.

In the course of his career, Prince Adekunle ran into troubled water as he was arrested in the United States of America on drug related offence.

He was on his way to seek medical attention for his eye problem when a friend he simply called Alhaji asked him to help him (Alhaji) with one of his luggage to the states.

“I had never seen drug in my life. What he (Alhaji) told me was that I should carry the luggage and that he would reward me very well. I thought it was just a normal luggage because I was going to seek medical attention for my eye trouble,” Prince Adekunle said in a 2012 interview.

He was sentenced to 10 years in prison but after two years, a group of lawyers came to his aid upon discovery that he was not aware that a friend actually hide a drug in his luggage on the way out of the country.

He was released but back in Nigeria, the anti-narcotics agency also detained him briefly.

Upon his freedom, he tried to find his feet in the music industry but remained a tough call till he breath his last.

The deceased, who was born on October 22, 1942, is from Abeokuta, Ogun State.