Ghanaian highlife legend Nana Ampadu has died.
This has been confirmed by his grandson who spoke to Hitz FM this morning.
Who was he?
Nana Kwame Ampadu was born March 31, 1945 at Adiemmra on the Afram Plains in the Eastern Region of Ghana.
As a musician, Nana Ampadu was credited with numerous popular highlife tracks and he is known to have composed over 800 songs.
Mr. Ampadu’s “African Brothers Band” was formed in 1963. One of the founding members was Eddie Donkor.
He came to prominence in 1967 when he released his song ‘Ebi Te Yie’ (or “Some Are Well Seated”), a song that was seen as potentially critical of the then-governing National Liberation Council (NLC) and disappeared from the airwaves, only returning after the end of military rule.
In 1973 he won a nationwide competition in Ghana to be crowned the Odwontofoohene, or “Singer-in-Chief”.
His musical career has also involved him in electoral politics, including composing a song for Jerry Rawlings’s National Democratic Congress (NDC) party to use in the 1992 election campaign. Mr. Ampadu also released a song critical of an attempt to disqualify Rawlings from the 1992 election based on him being half-Scottish.
More soon…
