William Onyeabor | Artist

William Ezechukwu Onyeabor was a Nigerian funk musician and businessman born 1946 in Enugu, Nigeria. His music was widely heard in Nigeria in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but he remained an enigmatic figure, private and reclusive. Onyeabor's songs are often heavily rhythmic and synthesized, occasionally epic in scope, with lyrics decrying war, sung by both Onyeabor himself and female backing vocalists. In the 2010s, some of his songs appeared on various compilations, most frequently his biggest hit, "Better Change Your Mind", which appeared on Africa 100, World Psychedelic Classics 3: Love's a Real Thing – The Funky Fuzzy Sounds of West Africa, and Nigeria 70: The Definitive Story of 1970's Funky Lagos, through world music labels such as Luaka Bop. Onyeabor recorded, produced and self released nine studio albums between 1977-85 on his own label Wilfilms Records. He released one final studio album What?! on the Luaka Bop label in 2014. Standout releases include Body & Soul, Good Name, Anything You Sow and the 2013 compilation album Who is William Onyeabor? In 2014 the super-group The Atomic Bomb Band formed to play the music of William Onyeabor, in recognition of the artists' unrecognised work. The group, who released the live album Plays the Music of William Onyeabor in 2017, includes the musicians David Byrne, Alexis Taylor, Joshua Redman, Pat Mahoney and Money Mark. In 2014, the music website Noisey, affiliated to Vice magazine, released a 31-minute documentary entitled Fantastic Man that documents Onyeabor's history and legacy as well as Noisey's attempt to track him down for an interview.

Artist Website: wikipedia/William_Onyeabor

Featured Albums: William Onyeabor

Related Artists: The Atomic Bomb Band

Video Clips: Fantastic Man Doco, Atomic Bomb, Body & Soul