Fela Kuti

Biography

Fela Anikulapo-Kuti created Afrobeat, fought military rulers with his music and built the Kalakuta Republic. Nearly three decades after his death, he was finally inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2026.

Career history

1. 1958

   In 1958 he went to London to study music at Trinity College of Music, where he formed the band Koola Lobitos.

2. 1969

   A 1969 trip to the United States, where he met Black Power activists, changed his music and politics.

3. 1976

   After his 1976 album Zombie mocked soldiers, about 1,000 troops raided Kalakuta in February 1977, burned it and beat its residents; his elderly mother was thrown from a window and later died of her injuries.

4. 1979

   He formed the Movement of the People party in 1979 and tried to run for president in 1983.

5. 1984

   In 1984 the Buhari military government jailed him on a currency charge that Amnesty International called politically motivated; he was released after about 20 months.

6. 1997

   Fela died in Lagos on 2 August 1997; his brother, Professor Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, announced that the cause was AIDS-related illness.

7. 2026

   In 2026 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and given a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Quick facts