{{Short description|Nigerian musician (1939–2023)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}} '''Peter King Adeyoyin Osubu''' (1939 – 29 August 2023), known as '''Peter King''', was a Nigerian musician who played several instruments, but was best known as an alto saxophonist playing a combination of Afrobeat and jazz.<ref name=benson>{{cite web |url=http://www.discogs.com/Peter-King-African-Dialects/release/1428716 |title=Peter King – African Dialects |author=Benson Odonije |date=1979 |author-link=Benson Idonije |publisher=Discogs |accessdate=2009-11-04}}</ref> Peter King is perhaps better known in Europe and America than in Nigeria for his "Miliki Sound" on the record ''A Soulful Peter King'', where he played popular classics such as "Sincerely", "We Belong Together" and "Just Because".<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/arts/article02//indexn3_html?pdate=071009&ptitle=The%20collector's%20'soulfull'%20Peter%20King&cpdate=081009 |date=7 October 2009 |title=The collector's 'soulfull' Peter King |author=Benson Idonije |location=Nigeria |accessdate=4 November 2009|newspaper=The Guardian}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref>

==Life== Peter King was born in 1939 in Enugu in the Southeastern region of Nigeria and grew up in Lokoja, Lagos, and Port Harcourt. In 1957 he joined the Roy Chicago band in Ibadan, playing the maracas and then the conga drum. He moved to other bands in Ibadan and then Lagos, playing the double bass, drums and then the alto sax. In 1961 he went to London, England, where he studied at various schools of music, including Trinity College of Music.<ref name=self>{{cite web |url = http://www.thepeterking.com/biography.php |title = Peter King Biography |publisher = Peter King |accessdate = 4 November 2009 |url-status = dead |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20110717021641/http://www.thepeterking.com/biography.php |archivedate = 17 July 2011 }}</ref>

While in London, King joined with drummer Bayo Martins and trumpeter Mike Falana to form the African Messengers group.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/aug/23/guardianobituaries |title=Bayo Martins: Nigerian drummer who pioneered Afro-jazz |author=Val Wilmer |author-link=Val Wilmer |work=The Guardian |location=London |date=23 August 2003 |accessdate=4 November 2009}}</ref> Other musicians in the line up were Humphrey Okoh, Paul Edoh, David Williams, James Mene and Arthur Simon.<ref>Discogs – [https://www.discogs.com/release/4858012-The-African-Messengers-Highlife-Piccadilly-Blues-For-Messengers The African Messengers – Highlife Piccadilly / Blues For Messengers]</ref> The group performed at festivals and clubs, and served as backup band for acts like the Four Tops, The Temptations and Diana Ross. The African Messengers recorded many 45&nbsp;rpm records. "Highlife Piccadilly", a fusion of Highlife and jazz, was a hit. King formed another band The Blues Builders with which he toured Europe and Northern Africa.<ref name=self/>

King returned to Nigeria in 1969, and with his group The Voice of Africa performed on the war front during the Nigerian Civil War. Returning to London in 1971, he toured Europe, America and Japan with his group Shango. He assembled and arranged a big band to back the singing group Boney M on their first live concert tour across Europe in 1977.<ref name=timbuktu/> He recorded nine studio albums between 1975 and 1978, and wrote music for several plays and television shows. In 1979 King returned to Nigeria and formed the P.K. band. He composed music for soap operas and recorded three further albums.<ref name=self/> In the early 1980s Peter King and his P.K. Band played on the NTA and at the National Museum, Lagos, for three years.<ref name=timbuktu/>

King died on 29 August 2023, at the age of 84.<ref>[https://thebladengr.com/2023/08/31/nigerian-music-legend-peter-king-dies-at-84/ "Nigerian music legend, Peter King dies at 84", ''The Blade NGR'', August 31, 2023]. Retrieved 31 August 2023</ref>

==Music== King played in the Sonny Rollins-Gene Ammons-John Coltrane tradition.<ref name=benson/> He had a unique tone, flawless articulation and a fresh turn of mind in improvisations, and was the leading tenor saxophone voice to have come from the Nigerian highlife and afrobeat traditions.<ref>{{cite book |title=West Africa |publisher=West Africa Pub. Co., ltd. |year=1988 |page=702}}</ref> Talking of his hit "Highlife Piccadilly", King said: "Our philosophy was to play modern jazz with highlife as the basis ... Afrojazz is my musical direction and a mission".<ref name=timbuktu>{{cite web |url = http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/ArtsandCulture/Travel/2606664-147/story.csp |title = Peter the King |author = Tam Fiofori |author-link = Tam Fiofori |publisher = Timbuktu Media |accessdate = 4 November 2009 |url-status = dead |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20110129152257/http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/ArtsandCulture/Travel/2606664-147/story.csp |archivedate = 29 January 2011 }}</ref> King combined afrobeat with a funk style similar to James Brown. His album ''Shango'' was acclaimed by critics. Opening with a simple flute melody, tambourines enter followed by complex duets between horns and looping guitar riffs.<ref> {{cite web |url=http://betterpropaganda.com/content.aspx?id=1111 |title=Song of the Day 4/8/09: Peter King – Shango |publisher=betterPropaganda |accessdate=4 November 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090411002603/http://betterpropaganda.com/content.aspx?id=1111 |archive-date=11 April 2009 |url-status=dead }} </ref>

==School of Music== King founded his School of Music in 1982, in a three-room apartment in Maza Maza. At first it had about 30 students, though since then has expanded greatly, and is now located in Badagry. It has lecture halls, rehearsal rooms, an assembly-concert hall and hostel facilities. The school has been assisted by Canadian musicians Oliver Jones and Archie Allen and greatly assisted by the French government. Almost two thousand students have graduated from the school since 1982. The school provides practical tuition and grants certificates and diplomas. It prepares students for the professional examinations of Associate, Licentiate and Fellowship of the Trinity, Royal and London Schools of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.<ref name=timbuktu/> Aṣa and Benjamin James of The Cavemen are some of the notable alumnus of King's school of music.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.pulse.ng/entertainment/music/bio-asa-id2789423.html|title=Asa|date=4 November 2014|newspaper=Pulse Nigeria}}</ref>

In January 2007 the French Ambassador in Nigeria inaugurated the new facilities of the Peter King school of music at Badagry, Lagos State.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ambafrance-ng.org/article.php3?id_article=362 |title=Cultural and Co-operation Relations |publisher=Embassy of France in Nigeria |accessdate=4 November 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070816194630/http://www.ambafrance-ng.org/article.php3?id_article=362 |archivedate=16 August 2007 }}</ref>

==Discography== *''Shango'' (Mr. Bongo Records, 1974) *''Miliki Sounds'' (Orbitone, 1975) *''Omo Lewa'' (Orbitone, 1976) *''A Soulfull Peter King'' (Orbitone, 1977) *''Moods'' (Tyrone Records, 1978) *''African Dialects'' (Grandstand, 1979) *''Palm Wine Vendor'' (2002)

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzgRV5jBYw8 |title=Peter King – Shango |via=YouTube |accessdate=4 November 2009}}{{cbignore}}{{Dead Youtube links|date=February 2022}} * {{discogs artist|Peter King}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Peter}} Category:1939 births Category:2023 deaths Category:Musicians from Enugu Category:Nigerian jazz musicians Category:Nigerian drummers Category:20th-century Nigerian saxophonists Category:Alumni of Trinity College of Music Category:The African Messengers members