Latest news with #Highlife
Hindustan Times
26-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Daddy Lumba net worth: How rich was late Ghanaian musician? Here's all about his family and kids
Ghanaian musician Daddy Lumba died on July 26, Saturday at The Bank Hospital in Cantonments, Accra after a brief illness, as per his family's statement. His family has requested privacy as they mourn the Highlife musician's death. According to the statement, details about funeral arrangements would be shared in the coming days. Ghanaian musician Daddy Lumba died on July 26.(X@the_marcoliboy) A note by the management of DL FM, Daddy Lumba's radio station, read, 'Daddy Lumba was more than a musician; he was a cultural icon whose music touched countless lives. His soulful voice provided the soundtrack to our love stories, and his poignant lyrics captured the poetry of our struggles, dreams, and resilience.' As the world mourns the demise of the singer, here is all you need to know about Lumba's net worth and family. Daddy Lumba family The Highlife musician was born as Charles Kwadwo (Kojo) Fosu to Johnson Kwadwo Fosuh and Madam Comfort Gyamfi, also known as Ama Saah, in Nsuta, Ghana. His parents were teachers, and he was the second of three siblings, as per his official website. As per Yen News, he was married twice. Daddy Lumba shared four kids with his first wife Maame Akosua Serwaa and three kids with his second wife Maame Broni. Also Read: Who is Luis Leon? Chilean national wrongfully deported to Guatemala found alive; family misinformed about his death Daddy Lumba net worth Lumba's net worth is estimated to be around $16 million in January 2025, as per Yen News. His net worth made him one of the wealthiest musicians in Ghana, the outlet said. Daddy Lumba career Lumba's career spanned over three decades. He was seen as one of the most important people in the country's music scene. He released over 30 albums, with songs like Theresa, Aben Wo Ha, Yentie Obiaa and Playboy captivating generations. His first album was Yɛɛyɛ Aka Akwantuo Mu, which he released as part of the Lumba Brothers in collaboration with Nana Acheampong. After that, he pursued a successful solo career. Lumba also nurtured the careers of several budding artists, who went on to etch their own name in the music industry. These include Felix Owusu, Afia Ampofowaa, Kwabena Sunkwa, Ofori Amponsah Selina Orleans, Borax, Ateaa Tina and many others. FAQs Who was Daddy Lumba? Lumba was a Ghanaian musician who passed away on July 26. What was Daddy Lumba's net worth? Lumba had a net worth of $16 million, as per Yen News. How many children did Daddy Lumba have? Lumba was reportedly father to seven children from two marriages.
Forbes
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
How Flavour Chose Highlife Over Afrobeats — And Won Africa's Heart
Flavour, Nigerian Highlife artist, known for modernizing the genre while honoring his Igbo roots. While his contemporaries chased Afrobeats, Flavour chose to modernize Highlife for a new generation. Now, with a Warner Music deal and a worldwide fanbase, he's proving there's power in staying true to what you love. Last year, I had the pleasure of dialoguing with Nigerian Highlife music legend Flavour N'abania while he was in the middle of his African Royalty European Tour taking on stages in France, Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom, a run that not only highlighted his staying power in Nigeria and West Africa, but also his global appeal. Born Chinedu Okoli, Flavour performed, and often does, in front of audiences that range across generations, continents, and cultures. An Igbo native, his reach has extended far beyond ethnic ciphers. He doesn't just appeal to Nigerians in the diaspora, he speaks to the larger African apparatus and those who admire it. When we spoke, Flavour was gearing up to perform at the OVO Arena Wembley, the biggest solo UK show of his career. He had performed in Britain many times, but this concert was different. 'I've been performing in the UK for quite some time,' he told me. 'But this should be the biggest venue I'm ever headlining. That would be my own concert.' Flavour stands as a dominant force in modern Highlife music, and genre that is not new to the African music scene. It is a genre that predates Afrobeats and its founding precursor, Afrobeat (yes, there is a difference). Highlife arose in the Fante coast of Ghana in the 19th century, where natives curated infectious polyrhythms through primarily brass instruments, local drums, guitars, the Akan Seprewa—some which derived from Caribbean soldiers and British military brass bands. From Ghana's Kwame Asare and E.T. Mensah to Nigeria's Bobby Benson, Victor Olaiya, and Rex Jim Lawson, by the 1950s Highlife was the staple sound of West Africa. With subsectors of the genre coming to fruition, mainly due to ethnic lines, Igbo Highlife arose in the 1960s with the likes of the Oriental Brothers International Band, Osita Osadebe, and Celestine Ukwu. Fast forward to the millennium, where Flavour is not only dominant in the ethnic sector of the genre, but the greater Highlife music genre across the continent of Nigerian Highlife star, has captivated audiences across Africa, Europe, and the diaspora. We talked about his decision to remain a torchbearer for Highlife, even as Afrobeats exploded globally. In 2008, it was the primetime for 2Baba, 9nice, D'banj, MI Abaga, P-Square, Timaya, Wande Coal, some of them already veterans. 2Baba was already on his third album (post his 2004 hit 'African Queen'). 9nice put Yoruba incented Afropop on the map with 'Gongo Aso,' and P-Square was already a decade in the game and dominating the waves with their hit 'Do Me.' And it wasn't that Flavour couldn't make an Afrobeats hit. He was simply on another wave and desired to stick and preserve the foundational West African art form of Highlife, in his own way. When he dropped his debut album that year, N'abania, it was a hit among Igbos and the SouthEast region and fairly translated into outer regions. Flavour reflected on the state of Highlife when he entered the Nigerian music scene, explaining, 'Before I came in, it's been kind of a big fire because, you know, everybody was moving into Afrobeats and all,' he said. 'But like I always tell them, Africa is rich in music. And now Afrobeats is popping, it is now left for us to showcase other genres in full, so we don't get people stuck listening just to Afrobeats. Because African music has different genres, which Highlife is one of them.' Though he was trained as a versatile, professional musician capable of many styles, Flavour made a deliberate decision to devote himself to Highlife, saying, 'When I was coming on, a proper musician, I could do so many kinds of music. But I chose Highlife because of its resonance with me.' Flavour and Highlife legend Bright Chimezie pictured together at London's OVO Arena during his ... More 'African Royalty European Tour.' As he stepped into his solo career, he wrestled with how to position himself, recalling, 'Coming out as an artist, I was like telling myself, which way do I go? I don't want to, you know, join everyone, look like, you know, I want to be different. I want to interpret my music differently. I want to be seen differently.' Over the years, Flavour has remained committed to evolving the genre. As he put it, 'That's what I've been doing over the years, trying to modernize Highlife, trying to recreate it and give it some kind of modern sound that everybody can vibe to, not just the old, young, middle class, and of course other continents, not just Africa.' And he surely did manage to reach beyond Nigeria. It is easy to make an post hoc ergo propter hoc assumption about Flavour's reach, and think he made it in Nigeria before he made it elsewhere within the continent. However, the 'Ada Ada' singer was rather popular in Eastern Nigeria, where the Igbo ethnic group is stationed. 'I was lucky enough to not just because initially, my fame didn't start from the East, it didn't go to Lagos, it didn't go to the West, it didn't go to the rest of Nigeria,' Flavour recalled. 'From the Eastern part of Nigeria, it went straight into the other African countries. From the Afrikaner, Sierra Leone, I was already doing shows there before I even came to Lagos. They were like, 'ah, there's this Nigerian guy.' Some Lagosians were like, 'Oh, wow, we've not heard of him.' Instead of that popularity translating to the West or North of the country, it became a sensation in South Africa, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania. It was his 2011 song, 'Nwa Baby (Ashawo Remix)'—also a remake of Rex Jim Lawson's (also known as Cardinal Rex) 1960 hit 'Sawale,' in what became a continental hit, easily disseminating through the ears of diasporians and enthusiasts alike, that caused the regional virality. 'When we landed in South Africa, all the immigration officers spotted me and they came to me. They didn't even know who the other guys were,' he said. 'The guys that were so big in Lagos and all, they didn't know them. I wasn't even dressed like a star. I didn't know what it's all about. I was just fresh from the East. So when I got to South Africa, one guy came to me and was like, 'you're a big star over here. I hope you know that.' Flavour, Nigerian Highlife star, has captivated audiences across Africa, Europe, and the diaspora. According to Flavour, he 'never' felt like a star in Nigeria. Only in sectors of the east. Well, such reach goes under denied as of today and goes so far. Last November, Flavour signed a deal with Warner Music Africa and Africori. He will now be subjected to refined A&R and marketing forces, which are bound to attract profound opportunities for the Highlife artist. Flavour's career is a message to those who don't dare to be different. Dare to be different. The expected outcome may go astray, but the unexpected holds the possibility to be a grandeur.
Khaleej Times
10-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Khaleej Times
Toe-tapping King Charles reveals his favourite songs
Kylie Minogue's "The Loco-Motion", Ghanaian Highlife music and Diana Ross's "Upside Down" are the sounds guaranteed to get King Charles III on the dance floor, the UK monarch revealed Monday. The king has joined forces with Apple to launch "The King's Music Room", a radio show in which he shares his favourite songs from around the Commonwealth, and beyond. They reveal a surprising appreciation of disco, reggae and Afrobeats, and the songs which get the royal toes tapping. "The Loco-Motion", by Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue "has that infectious energy which makes it, I find, incredibly hard to sit still," Charles said as he introduced the song from Buckingham Palace, photographed behind a desk boasting an "On Air" sign. He also explained how he discovered Highlife music "and the urge to dance to that pulsating rhythm" when he first visited Ghana in the 1970s. "On my most recent visit to Ghana in 2018 I found myself dancing along to the next track, which is by Daddy Lumba -- who is regarded by some as the greatest musician Ghana has ever produced," he added, before playing "Mpempem Do Me". Although not from one of the Commonwealth nations, US singer Diana Ross' "Upside Down" is also "one of my particular favourites," said the king. "When I was much younger it was absolutely impossible not to get up and dance when it was played. I wonder if I can still just manage it," he joked. The king said that the songs evoked "many different styles and many different cultures" but that "all of them, like the family of Commonwealth nations, in their many different ways share the same love of life, in all its richness and diversity". The show was recorded to mark Commonwealth Day, which is being celebrated on Monday. The Commonwealth is a bloc of 56 nations, most of which are British ex-colonies. - 'Hot Hot Hot' - Jamaican reggae legend Bob Marley also makes the playlist, with his classic hit "Could You Be Loved". "I will tell you about a time when I met the great man himself. I remember when he came to London to perform when I was much younger and I met him at some event," recalled Charles. The 76-year-old monarch remembered Marley's "marvellous, infectious energy... but also his deep sincerity and his profound concern for his community. "I always recall his words 'the people have a voice inside them'; he gave the world that voice in a way that no-one who heard could ever forget," he said. Also from the Caribbean, Charles selected Millie Small's worldwide 1964 hit "My Boy Lollipop" and Montserratian musician Arrow's "Hot Hot Hot". "When I last visited the island, it certainly was," joked the king. On a more nostalgic note, the playlist also contains "The Very Thought of You" by 1930s crooner Al Bowlly. "For me there is something... irresistible about music from the 1920s and 1930s that reminds me of my much-loved grandmother. She used to play these sorts of music a lot, and also never fails to lift my spirits." Moving back to the present day, Charles confessed that there was a "performer so exceptional that I just could not resist including her music". "The incomparable Beyonce," said the king as he introduced the US pop star's song "Crazy in Love". Other songs to make the list include "La Vie En Rose" as sung by Grace Jones, "Love Me Again" by popular UK artist Raye and "KANTE" by Nigerian artist Davido. "It also features lyrics in pidgin, which I love in all its forms," said Charles. Miriam Makeba's "The Click Song", "My Country Man" by Jools Holland and Ruby Turner, Anoushka Shankar's "Indian Summer", Siti Nurhaliza's "Anta Permana", Kiri Te Kanawa's "E Te Iwi E" and Michael Buble's "Haven't Met You Yet" completed the list.
Telegraph
10-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
King reveals his music playlist that ‘never fails to lift my spirits'
The King has revealed he is a fan of Beyoncé as he unveiled the playlist that gets him on the dance floor. The monarch will tell the world he finds it 'absolutely impossible not to get up and dance' to Diana Ross's Upside Down while Kylie Minogue's The Loco-Motion gets him in the groove. Songs from the 1920s and 1930s that his late grandmother, the Queen Mother, used to play 'never fails to lift my spirits', he will say, and discovering Highlife while travelling in Ghana gave him the 'urge to dance to that pulsating rhythm'. The mix of music, which is presented by the King himself in a programme called The King's Music Room, will be available to hear in full on Apple Music in a special episode to mark Commonwealth Day on Monday. Some of the artists are already known to be favourites of the King, including Bob Marley and Grace Jones, while others may surprise some. He has included Beyoncé, despite the fact that the US is not in the Commonwealth, in honour of her 2003 performance for his Prince's Trust. 'Here is one of the Trust's most faithful supporters, the incomparable Beyoncé, with the song Crazy In Love,' he says. 'And incidentally, I would like to congratulate her for winning her first 'album of the year' Grammy.' He met the singer at a reception in 2003, where he is reported to have told her that both his sons had her albums. More recently, Beyoncé has been a vocal supporter of the Duchess of Sussex, including a portrait of her in her Brit Awards acceptance speech in 2019 and meeting at the premiere of The Lion King in London. During Harry & Meghan, the Sussexes's Netflix documentary, the Duchess is seen receiving a supportive text message from the singer. The King's playlist also names Canadian singer Michael Bublé, who recently appeared at Prince Harry's Invictus Games in Vancouver. The King chose Haven't Met You Yet as one of his 16 songs.
