Veteran musician, Orlando Julius dies at age 79

The death of the Veteran highlife musician, Orlando Julius, has been announced in the early hours of Friday. He died at the age of 79.

Latoya, his widow, communicated the news of his death through music promoter, Bimbo Esho.

“Bimbo, Daddy Has Passed On….This was the message I stumbled on waking up at exactly 3 am to peruse my WhatsApp page. It was a message sent to me by Orlando Julius’ beautiful and supportive wife Lady Latoya

“Orlando Julius, a native of Ijebu Ijesha, succumbed to the cold hands of death and breathed his last few hours ago at the age of 79.

“We shall miss one of Nigeria’s fathers of Afro/Highlife Music, a gentleman and a fine Saxophonist.

“May daddy Orlando Julius’ soul journey well. To the entire Ekemode family may God give you the fortitude to bear this irreplaceable loss,” Bimbo Esho posted.

The ‘‘A dara, a dara’ singer”,celebrated his 60 years on stage last year.

Julius was born in 1943 in Ikole, Nigeria to a merchant family during British colonialism. His first musical teacher was his mother, who would sing and dance while he played drums.

He went to St. Peter’s Anglican School in Ikole and played in the school band.

In 1960, Eddie Okonta invited Julius to join his band. Okonta’s was one of the most popular highlife acts in Nigeria, and together they recorded several songs, performing many gigs, and even opened for Louis Armstrong. He recorded his first single, “Igbehin Adara”, with the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation the same year. But by then Julius was less interested in playing highlife than “to put traditional [music] that I started with, and add a little bit of horns and guitar, and then do my own thing.”

To that end he formed Modern Aces in the early 1960s and began incorporating American pop, R&B, and soul into the African music he grew up with.