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Renowned Legend of Highlife, Dr Victor Abimbola Olaiya (OON) has died this afternoon, in Lagos.
In a press release by Bimbo Esho, who is the Managing Director of Evergeen Music Company, he stated that Dr. Olaiya passed on at Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, Lagos exactly 12noon today, Wednesday. 12th of February, 2020.
Dr Victor Abimbola Olaiya was 89 years of age on December 31st, 2019.
Olaiya’s music bridges between Ghanaian highlife and what would become Afrobeat.
His musical style was influenced by James Brown, with horn parts harmonised in Brown’s style, as opposed to the mostly unison lines of Afrobeat. The music includes the swinging percussion of Tony Allen, but not the syncopated style that Allen later pioneered.
Late Olaiya released an album with Ghanaian highlife musician E. T. Mensah. Both the drummer Tony Allen and vocalist Fela Kuti played with Olaiya and went on to achieve individual success.
In July 2013, Victor Olaiya released a music video remix of Baby Jowo (Baby Mi Da) with 2face idibia and was received with much acclaim by lovers of highlife genre of music.
