Somtochukwu

Sikiru Adepoju was born to Chief Ayanleke Adepoju and Mrs Adepoju on November 10, 1952 in Eruwa, Ibarapa, Oyo State. 

His great grandfather, grandfather and father were all drummers. They didn’t specifically teach him how to drum, but he picked it up because he was always around many drummers. However, he didn’t want to be a drummer because he saw the way his father and grandfather had to struggle to get recognition and make ends meet.

He moved to Lagos in the 1970s and became an apprentice cobbler in Mushin. He also played the talking drum part time.

His boss got a job as a cab driver at Ikeja Airport and became more interested in that, so Sikiru Adepoju had to leave the shoemaking business and became a full time drummer. He played for various bands at this time including Sir Shina Peters’ band.

A dispute in Sir Shina Peters’ band led Sikiru Adepoju to leave the music business once more and he became a revenue collector for the NURTW in Ojo in 1982. He made a lot of money with the NURTW.

However, he had already gained a reputation as a very good drummer and he couldn’t run away from music for too long because people kept inviting him to play in their bands. That was how he was invited to play in Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey’s Inter-Reformers Band. 

He left Obey’s band in 1985 because they had just returned from a tour of Europe and Obey decided that they should tour the US, but Adepoju decided that he was not going.

Highlife legend, Orlando Julius Ekenmode, invited Sikiru Adepoju to play the talking drum in his video shoot and after the shoot he invited him to move to the US with him. 

Adepoju moved to the US with Orlando Julius in 1985. He was earning $250 a week while playing for Orlando Julius in the US.

He met US based legendary Nigerian percussionist, Babatunde Olatunji in 1985. Olatunji had played with legends like Stevie Wonder, Carlos Santana, Cannonball Adderley and Mickey Hart. Olatunji introduced Sikiru Adepoju to his friends.

Sikiru Adepoju could have been a 2-time Grammy Award winner by now. He and Babatunde Olatunji played on the Planet Drum album in 1991. The album won a Grammy Award, but Olatunji, Adepoju and 6 other performers were listed as contributing artistes rather than primary artistes. Therefore, the Grammy Awards only presenter the group with one trophy and eight certificates.

This issue was remedied in 2006 when Sikiru Adepoju performed on the Global Drum Project album. He was listed as a primary artiste this time and he was given his own Grammy Award trophy.

Sikiru Adepoju and Babatunde Olatunji also featured on 2Pac Shakur’s posthumous album “The Rose That Grew From Concrete”.

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