Fela Kuti, the Nigerian musician, bandleader and activist who died in 1997, has received two major posthumous honors: in December he was the first African artist to receive a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and he is among the musicians announced for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s 2026 class in the musical influence category. The Hall described him as a revolutionary voice who used innovative music to confront injustice, blending jazz, West African rhythms and soul to forge Afrobeat. Fellow artists such as Senegal’s Youssou N’Dour have long hailed him as a fearless voice whose rhythms carried truth, resistance and freedom.
Often called the “Black President,” Fela is one of the few artists universally known by a single name. He developed Afrobeat from layered, shifting syncopations, psychedelic horns, call-and-response chants and traditional instruments like the talking drum. His ensembles frequently swelled to more than 30 members and sometimes included twin basses and multiple baritone saxophones. Fela played saxophone, keyboards, guitar, drums and trumpet; he sang largely in Nigerian Pidgin English to reach a broad African audience and rejected pop’s short-song conventions in favor of long, immersive compositions — some running 40 minutes or more — and unconventional performance practices, including refusing to play recorded songs note-for-note on stage.
His approach inspired generations of musicians. South Africa’s BCUC called him a spiritual muse, crediting him with expanding what music could be and showing performers how to speak truth at personal risk. Artists across Africa and beyond — from Salif Keita to contemporary bands and producers — cite Fela as foundational to their musical and political thinking.
Fela’s music took a distinctly political turn after a 1969 visit to Los Angeles, where he connected with members of the Black Panther movement. He became an outspoken critic of Nigeria’s military governments and of apartheid in South Africa. The 1976 album Zombie, a blistering attack on the military, provoked a violent government response: soldiers burned his home and studio in Lagos, destroyed instruments and master tapes, beat Fela unconscious and assaulted his mother, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, who later died from her injuries. Zombie was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame the year before last, one of only a few African records to receive that honor.
Fela ran for president in 1979 and endured repeated arrests and harassment under successive military regimes. He was sentenced to five years in prison at one point and held for more than a year; Amnesty International designated him a prisoner of conscience. He was freed after the overthrow of the Buhari government in 1985.
Fela died in 1997 from complications related to AIDS; his brother, Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, then Nigeria’s health minister, confirmed the cause. His death reportedly prompted a spike in condom sales and helped raise public awareness about the epidemic in Nigeria. An estimated more than one million people attended his funeral.
His cultural impact has continued into the 21st century. The 2002 tribute album Red Hot + Riot gathered artists such as Sade, D’Angelo and Questlove to raise funds and awareness for AIDS; the Broadway musical Fela! (2009), produced by Jay-Z and Will Smith, received 11 Tony nominations. Though Fela never earned a Grammy nomination during his lifetime, his sons Femi and Seun and his grandson Made have received multiple nominations, and countless musicians across generations acknowledge his influence as an originator who used music to call out corruption and inspire pride, resistance and creativity.
Ian Brennan, the author of the original piece, is a Grammy-winning producer who has recorded numerous international artists and written several books.