Jide Obi Ibo (born 1962) is a Nigerian music star of the 1980s.

Biography

Jide Obi was born in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

to a Nigerian

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

of England's Lincoln Inn, and a teacher. In the late 1970s he studied law at

Enugu Enugu ( ; ) is the capital city of Enugu State in Nigeria. It is located in southeastern part of Nigeria. The city had a population of 820,000 according to the 2022 Nigerian census. The name ''Enugu'' is derived from the two Igbo words ''Énú ...

campus of the

University of Nigeria The University of Nigeria, commonly referred to as UNN, is a federal university located in Nsukka, Enugu State, Eastern part of Nigeria. Founded by Nnamdi Azikiwe in 1955 and formally opened on 7 October 1960, the University of Nigeria has thr ...

, where he became friends with fellow student Chris Okotie. Following Okotie's success, in the early 1980s he released his debut album "Front Page News" under the Tabansi Records label. Other hits included ''Kill Me With Love'', and ''Front Page News''. He made numerous performances on Nigerian radio and television. In November 1981, his record label, Tabansi Records, gave him his first gold disc award at the National Theatre,

Surulere Surulere is a residential and commercial Local Government Areas of Nigeria, Local Government Area located on the mainland of Lagos in Lagos State, Nigeria, with an area of . At the last census in the year 2006, there were 503,975 inhabitants, wi ...

. Two years later, he toured Eastern Nigeria with

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

's Bunny Mack, backed mostly by the Comrades of Enugu, Nigeria. He has had several bands backing him, including Guyanese musician

Eddy Grant Edmond Montague Grant (born 5 March 1948) is a Guyanese-British singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known for his genre-blending sound; his music has blended elements of pop, British rock, soul, funk, reggae, electronic music, Afr ...

's Coach House Band, the Dukes of Freetown Sierra Leone, and the Apostles of Aba. His albums ''Front Page News'' and ''Kill Me With Love'' were both produced by

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

native Bill Campbell. Ex-

Osibisa Osibisa are a Ghanaian-British Afro-Rock band founded in London in the late 1960s by four expatriate West African and three London based Caribbean musicians. Osibisa were the most successful and longest lived of the African-heritage bands in ...

and Funkees guitarist Jake Solo performed on both recordings. In 1984, Obi composed the theme tune to the

NTA NTA may refer to: * Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis, a method for visualizing and analyzing particles * National Tax Agency, the official tax collecting agency of Japan * National Tax Association, a non-profit organization in United States * Nati ...

children's show ''Tales By Moonlight''. With

Dizzy K Falola Dizzy K Falola (born Kunle Falola) is a London-based Nigerian singer, currently performing as a gospel artiste, but is perhaps best known as a former 1980s pop star, famed for the hit "Baby Kilode". Early life and pop career Falola, whose parents d ...

, Chris Okotie, and Felix Lebarty he stimulated the emerging music industry of Nigeria. He sang modern pop gospel, also described as pop/blues. He was seen as part of a movement devoted to change and opposing inequality in Nigeria. Jide Obi is known to give press interviews critical of aspects of religion. The most notable instance occurred in 1989 and 1990, when he declared religion as frequently a victimising factor. The story made the cover of Nigerian billionaire

M. K. O. Abiola Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola , also known as M. K. O. Abiola (24 August 1937 – 7 July 1998) was a Nigerian businessman, publisher, and politician. He was the Aare Ona Kankafo XIV of Yorubaland and an aristocrat of the Egba clan. M.K.O. ...

's '' National Concord'' magazine. In recent years, Jide Obi has been seen living in both Britain and the United States, though he is a

recluse A recluse is a person who lives in voluntary seclusion from the public and society. The word is from the Latin ''recludere'', which means "shut up" or "sequester". Historically, the word referred to a Christian hermit's total isolation from th ...

seldom seen in public.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obi, Jide Living people 1962 births Nigerian male musicians Igbo musicians English people of Nigerian descent University of Nigeria alumni