who'd be 85 according to Wikipedia. According to this April 2021 Guardian article, he was already 87 then, so 89 now.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/apr/29/osibisa-british-black-rock-band-fela-kuti-stevie-wonder
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“I wanted to make a difference to the African music scene,” says Osei. “I wanted to make a different sound.” Initially so poor the band were forced to rehearse in Osei’s Finsbury Park basement flat, it was when three Caribbean musicians joined that Osibisa found their sound. “Wendell Richardson could play rock guitar,” explains Osei.
Osibisa quickly made a mark, their dynamic fusion allowing them to play the Roundhouse and Ronnie Scott’s alongside African and Caribbean haunts. Jimi Hendrix dropped in to see them rehearse: “He loved our rhythms. If he’d played with us, he would have lived.” But it was Stevie Wonder who, while in London in 1970, was so enamoured by Osibisa he joined them on stage on drums, then helped engineer a record deal.
They were managed by Gerry and Lilian Bron, industry veterans who had previously managed the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. It was they, says Osei, who insisted on Tony Visconti producing Osibisa and Roger Dean designing their LP covers. (Dean later crafted fantastical visions for Yes.) Was it a culture clash, Visconti and Dean being associated with British rock bands? No, says Osei, both men listened to him. “Visconti was leaning on me for suggestions as to how to get the right sound – I love him for that! And Dean asked what kind of ideas I had. I said, ‘Something African’ and suggested an elephant. He drew a flying elephant and it’s been Osibisa’s logo ever since.”
The band’s eponymous debut album and follow-up Woyaya, both 1971, were Visconti/Dean efforts that sold strongly internationally and are now regarded as their finest work. Music for Gong Gong, from their debut, quickly became a soul DJ favourite (Louie Vega has remixed it), while a moving interpretation of Rahsaan Roland Kirk’s Spirits Up Above is one of Woyaya’s highlights. I mention this and Osei replies: “Roland Kirk, he jam with us in London.” Seeing I’m impressed, Osei says Osibisa also played with Sun Ra when the maverick American made his UK debut in 1971. Sugumugu then describes his Belsize Park African music club Iroko – where the Osibisa/Kirk jam took place – as “the place where all Black musicians visiting London headed to. Fela came there!”
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The second paragraph of that article says Osibisa were best-known for two mid-'70s hits, which Tony hadn't produced, but the only chart info I could find for those singles said they peaked at #17 and #31, not doing as well as the albums Tony produced for them.
That article is the first I'd heard of Stevie Wonder joining them on stage, then helping them get a record deal. Cool.
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