Although, he stopped playing music in his later days, generations of fans of the highlife maestro, Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe, who passed on last weekend, in the U.S, during a brief illness, would miss him greatly, more especially for his soothing melody.
According to family sources, the remains of the musician will be flown to the country at the end of the month when burial rites will commence.

Until his death was announced Monday, Osadebe was the leader of the Sound Makers Internationals, a group he led for about five decades.

An artiste of class whose music was inspired by his parents, the highlife crooner would be remembered for hit albums like, Ozondi Ewendi and Makojo. But before then, the legend had in his earlier days, released Enyi Mba Enyi, Late Patrice Lumumba, Nnamdi Azikwe, One Pound No Balance, Omonuju Aku, The First Raining Day, Onu Kwuru Njo Gekwu Mma, among many others.

Osadebe went through the mills of music making, and that accounted for his staying power on top of his profession. For instance, he started with what he tagged: Amakekwu, a genre that was in vogue in the 1950s. At different times, he played Kokoma of Ghanaian heritage, Kusimilaya, which was made popular by late Adeolu Akinsanya a.k.a. Baba Eto. By the time, he came up with his band, Osadebe soon became, what Fela was to afrobeat; a master.

With his Oyolima music, Osadebe succeeded in uniting his listeners across the country. His music is laden with strong messages and his lyrics are prophetic. He once confessed that, during his sojourn in the U.S, his fans often ascribed therapeutic effects to his songs.

Osadebe’s music growth drew from calypso, samba, rumba, jazz, waltz, all of which are the core formative elements of highlife in its rustic form. The outbreak of the civil war in 1967 significantly stalled the development of his art. By the mid-1970s, his career had reached its zenith with the release of Osadebe 75.

Osita was a nationalist and a detribalized Nigerian having used his talent to reach out to Nigerians of diverse tribes. He demonstrated it by picking his first wife from Abeokuta, incidentally, she was late Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s relation. By that, Osadebe became Fela’s in-law. But beyond that, the duo still spared time to fraternize on the platform of music.

He once recalled how Fela would come around to play with him in his club in Lagos, shortly after he formed the Koola Lobitos Band.

He even had to suspend his show in the U.S. in 1997 when the news of Fela’s death filtered into the concert hall in 1997. He did not only call for a minute’s silence in his honour, he ensured that Fela’s music was played non-stop for about 30 minutes.

My parents love his song sooo much. and I did too.

i think he was the one who sang
gwam ifen ga mie echie (tell me what i will be tomorrow, let's be alive cuz no one knows what i will be tomorrow) in igbo right?

May his soul rest in PEACE amen.