NewsmakersNG

Ololade Adeyanju/

Nigeria has lost a part of her Pop history to COVID-19 with the death of Paul Alade, a member of the Ofege Band that ruled the airwaves in the early 70s.

NewsmakersNG learnt that Alade died in Oakland, California, where he was a teacher.

Alade was the bassist in Ofege, the musical band formed by teenagers from St. Gregory’s College, Obalende, Ikoyi, in Lagos. It has remained Nigeria’s most outstanding school boys’ band of all time.

They recorded several evergreen songs including Whizzy Ilabo, Ofoge, and Burning Jungle.

The boys, who recently announced on Facebook that they were planning a comeback, were largely influenced in the 70s by the guitar solos of Carlos Santana, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Francis Rossi, and the criss-cross rhythms of Osibisa. They were also influenced at home by the music of ‘BLO’ (Berkley Jones, Laolu Akins and Mike Odumosu), ‘Monomono’ (led by Joni Haastrup), The Funkees, and Ofo The Black Company.

The band’s debut album, ‘Try and Love’, recorded while the boys were still in high school (average age of 16) reportedly sold over a million copies. It was originally recorded and released in 1973. Due to their vibrant combo of sweet harmonies, hooks and fuzz, they would become one of the most legendary Nigerian groups of all time, with expressive sales and national stardom.

They recorded four albums before breaking up in 1978.

Ofege Band was made up of: Melvin Noks – Lead Vocals/Rhythm; Paul Alade on Bass Guitar; Mike Meme on Drums; Soga Benson – Lead/Solo Guitar; Felix Ijeh on Rhythm/Tenor Guitar; Dapo Olumide on Keyboards, and Felix Inneh was the Percussionist.

Read More:https://www.newsmakerslive.org/covid-19-claims-legendary-old-school-nigerian-pop-star-kills-ofeges-comeback-dream/