William Onyeabor

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Nigerian funk musician (1946–2017)

title: "William Onyeabor" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1946-births", "2017-deaths", "luaka-bop-artists", "musicians-from-enugu", "20th-century-nigerian-singers", "nigerian-political-music-artists", "anti-war-activists", "psychedelic-funk-musicians", "20th-century-nigerian-male-singers", "nigerian-singer-songwriters"] description: "Nigerian funk musician (1946–2017)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Onyeabor" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Nigerian funk musician (1946–2017) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist "]

FieldValue
nameWilliam Onyeabor
imageWilliam Onyeabor_resize.jpg
backgroundsolo_singer
birth_date
death_date
originEnugu, Nigeria
instrument
genre{{hlist
Afro-funk{{Cite weburl
occupationSinger-songwriter
years_active1977–1985
label
websitewilliamonyeabor.com
::

| name = William Onyeabor | image = William Onyeabor_resize.jpg | caption = | background = solo_singer | birth_date = | death_date = | origin = Enugu, Nigeria | instrument = | genre = {{hlist| Afro-funk|electro-funk|psychedelic funk|reggae}} | occupation = Singer-songwriter | years_active = 1977–1985 | label = | website = williamonyeabor.com

William Ezechukwu Onyeabor (, ; 26 March 1946 – 16 January 2017) was a Nigerian funk musician and businessman. His music was widely heard in Nigeria in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Despite his success, he remained an enigmatic, private, and reclusive figure.

Overview

Onyeabor's songs are often heavily rhythmic and synthesized, occasionally epic in scope, with lyrics decrying war. Onyeabor himself and female backing singers provided vocals. 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 on Luaka Bop, and Nigeria 70: The Definitive Story of 1970's Funky Lagos on Strut Records.

Biography

Onyeabor was born into a poor family, but became financially successful enough to travel to Europe to study record manufacturing. Some biographies claim that he studied cinematography in Russia, returning to Nigeria in the 1970s to start his own Wilfilms music label and to set up a recording and production studio. He was later crowned a High Chief in Enugu, where he lived as a businessman working on government contracts and running his own semolina flour mill. His business successes saw him named West African Industrialist of the Year in 1987.

According to the Luaka Bop record label, Onyeabor "self-released eight albums between 1977 and 1985 and then became a born-again Christian, refusing to ever speak about himself or his music again." The label reported that through attempting to speak with Onyeabor himself, and by talking to people who seem to have firsthand knowledge, it tried to construct an accurate biography of him for 18 months, without success.

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. 2014 also saw a touring supergroup called the Atomic Bomb! Band come together to play Onyeabor's music at a series of concerts and festivals around the world. The group is led by musical director Ahmed Gallab and his band Sinkane and includes David Byrne, Money Mark, Damon Albarn, Pat Mahoney, Dev Hynes, Other admirers of Onyeabor's work include Dan Snaith, Four Tet and Tune-Yards. as well as in a 2023 commercial for H&M, and a 2025 Casamigos commercial. In December 2014, Onyeabor made his debut radio broadcast on the Lauren Laverne Show on BBC 6 Music, where he stated "I only create music that will help the world," and announced that he had plans to release new material.

Onyeabor had four children. One of his children, Charles Onyeabor, is also a musician.

Following a brief illness, on 16 January 2017 Onyeabor died at his home in Enugu, Ezechukwu Palace. He was buried nearby on 26 May.

Discography

  • Crashes in Love (1977)
  • Atomic Bomb (1978)
  • Tomorrow (1979)
  • Body & Soul (1980)
  • Great Lover (1981)
  • Hypertension (1982)
  • Crashes in Love – Version 2 (1982)
  • Good Name (1983)
  • Anything You Sow (1985)
  • Who is William Onyeabor? (compilation) (2013)
  • What?! (Covers and remixes) (2014)

References

References

  1. "William Onyeabor | Biography, Albums, Streaming Links".
  2. (2 April 2014). "Damon Albarn leads supergroup in live tribute to Nigerian funk pioneer William Onyeabor".
  3. (18 January 2017). "William Onyeabor, Mysterious Funk Musician, Dies at 70".
  4. "William Onyeabor: Fantastic Man".
  5. "William Onyeabor". [[The Quietus]].
  6. Donohue, John. (5 May 2014). "Doctor Who". [[The New Yorker]].
  7. Pareles, Jon. (13 February 2005). "The Temptations of the Power Ballad". [[The New York Times]].
  8. Barclay, Michael. (25 August 2005). "A whole new beginning; New New Pornographers, no coup for Trews and some funky good times". [[Waterloo Region Record.
  9. Kara, Scott. (22 May 2009). "Various – Nigeria 70". [[The New Zealand Herald]].
  10. Lynskey, Dorian. (18 January 2017). "William Onyeabor: one of music's most insoluble puzzles to the end".
  11. [http://www.roughtrade.com/events/2013/10/233 "A William Onyeabor Experience"] {{Webarchive. link. (5 March 2016 , Rough Trade Records. Retrieved 11 October 2013)
  12. [http://luakabop.com/onyeabor/ "Who is William Onyeabor?"] {{Webarchive. link. (25 February 2021 , Luaka Bop Records. Retrieved 11 October 2013)
  13. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiaRp0M2fxE/ Fantastic Man – A Film About William Onyeabor]. ''[[YouTube]]'', Retrieved 19 March 2014
  14. (18 January 2017). "RIP William Onyeabor".
  15. (4 May 2014). "The Songs of William Onyeabor, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music". [[The New York Times]].
  16. Empire, Kitty. (23 August 2015). "Sunn O))); Atomic Bomb! review – cacophony in the key of ))) major".
  17. (13 July 2023). "H&M TV Spot, 'Back to School: Bus Runway' Song by William Onyeabor".
  18. "Casamigos Tequila TV Spot, 'Anything Goes With My Casamigos: House of Friends'".
  19. "World Exclusive: William Onyeabor talks to Lauren Laverne Parts 1, 2, 3 & 4". BBC.
  20. Alake, Motolani. (28 January 2022). "Legendary William Onyeabor's son, Charles Onyeabor sees his song hit No. 12 on Spotify's top 100".
  21. "Legendary Nigerian musician, William Onyeabor dies at 72".
  22. "The Funeral of William Onyeabor".
  23. Beta, Andy. (12 December 2014). "Reviews: William Onyeabor Box Set".
  24. "Who is William Onyeabor? Tracklist".
  25. "William Onyeabor Crashes in Love – Volume 2". Rough Trade Records.
  26. Rubin, Mike. (15 November 2013). "An Elusive Mystery Man of Music". The New York Times.

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1946-births2017-deathsluaka-bop-artistsmusicians-from-enugu20th-century-nigerian-singersnigerian-political-music-artistsanti-war-activistspsychedelic-funk-musicians20th-century-nigerian-male-singersnigerian-singer-songwriters