Highlife golden voice, Tunde Osofisan, who was a vocalist in late Roy Chicago's band, has died. He died penultimate Saturday at his Lagos residence after a protracted battle with stroke. He was 77.
Osofisan shot Roy Chicago’s Abalabi Rhythms Dandies into fame with his golden voice, which many highlife addicts agreed was in a class of its own.
A few weeks before his death, the musician had lamented thus: “This terrible sickness which actually hit me like a thunderbolt from nowhere, did that fateful morning when it closed up on me suddenly, seizing my voice and ability to walk. Initially, I struggled, wondering what was wrong. I did for sometime before I finally fell down. It was at this point in time, that people started to come into our apartment, wondering what could have gone wrong. Everybody started to proffer solutions. However, I was able to regain myself after sometime through concerted prayers from all.”
The musician, however, appreciated the efforts of his friends, Femi Esho, CEO, Evergreen Records and ex-class mate, Tunde Adeniyi, for the special herbs bought regularly for him without which he would have since died.
But then the highlife community has started paying tributes to the legend. First to identify with the deceased was Femi Esho who bemoaned his death, maintaining that Nigeria has lost the highlife musician with the best voice. “I wish to state unequivocally here that Nigeria has lost the best highlife music voice. As a custodian of highlife music over the years and as a friend who has listened to Oshofisan’s releases and witnessed his shows too, I am certainly in a better position to make this statement. Anybody who thinks otherwise can challenge me,” he submitted.
On his part, Barrister Joseph Nwaobike, a highlife aficionado, said: “Nigeria has lost a frontline member of highlife family in Nigeria. Oshofisan was really in a world of his own when it comes to rendition, standing him pretty high with a unique voice among his contemporaries. We all would miss him greatly. I want to suggest right away that people like him should be immortalised by the federal government. But the pity of it all, is that PMAN which should have made a case for them, does not appear to be united.”
Tunde Osofisan Memorial Nite will hold on Wednesday at Club 68, Adeniran Ogunsanya Street, Surulere, Lagos.