By Barth Ikiebe With Report From Naija Standard Newspaper, US.
Nigeria’s Afrobeat Music Icon, Fela Kuti’s Home in United Kingdom has turned a Mecca, where tourists converge at 12 Stanlake Road, Shepherd’s Bush, W12 7HP.
The Afrobeat Music Legend lived there when he came to London to study music at Trinity College.
Fela Anikulapo Kuti, ‘the man-with-death-in-the porch’ who died at the age of 58 years, has remained a hero, even in the grave.
28 years after his death, tourists from all walks of life, different tribes and nations have been visiting the last mansion that this legend stayed in.
This luxurious building located at 12 Stanlake Road, Shepherd’s Bush, W12 7HP was the mansion he lived when he came to London to study music at Trinity College in 1958.
Around the world, Fela Kuti was a Nigerian singer, multi-instrumentalist, bandleader, political activist and regarded as the founder of the influential musical style ‘Afrobeat’.
At the height of his popularity, the foreign media referred to him as one of Africa’s most “challenging and charismatic music performers” of all times.
He married his first wife, Remilekun (Remi) Taylor in 1960, and had three children.
In 1963, he moved back to the newly independent Federation of Nigeria and attempted to run for its first presidency.
In 1971, he returned to London to record his album Fela’s London Scene at Abbey Road Studios, kicking off what many call the best period of his music.
In 1984, he was jailed for 20 months in Nigeria for his political views.
Today, Kuti is still remembered as an icon for voicing his political views through his music and was honoured with a blue plaque in Shepherd’s Bush in 2021.
