Dele Abiodun caused my ‘war’ with King Sunny Ade –Emperor Pick Peter
Juju musician, Emperor Pick Peter, a contemporary of King Sunny Ade and Admiral Dele Abiodun, tells ADEOLA BALOGUN about his career and life experiences (Excerpts)
Why were you and Sunny Ade always having issues?
We were rivals in music then. Then, we were playing politics in music. We were friends notwithstanding the way we tackled each other. It is what can be described as musical politics. When Sunny Ade waxed his record, E kilo f’omo Ode, it was not new. Ambrose Campbell had done it before but what Sunny Ade did was to polish and modernise it.
But people said he was referring to you as ‘Omo Ode’ (hunter’s son)…
Let me tell you what happened. There was a day that I went to a party. They invited me and Admiral Dele Abiodun. I had earlier been invited to Abeokuta for an afternoon party before we came back to Lagos. At the party in Lagos in the night, we met Admiral Dele Abiodun who also came with his instruments. My instruments were so massive and sophisticated and the venue was too small for the two of us to set our instruments. While we were settling down, I told my boys to go and bring a giant jar of White Horse whiskey from my car. Dele Abiodun, all our band boys and I shared the drink and enjoyed ourselves. When it was midnight, I told him, ‘go and start playing; if you play for one hour, then I would play for one hour so that the stage would not be rowdy’. When my friend got to the stage, what came out of his mouth was ‘O jebi o jebi omo ode. A o le sinmi ote rara, boba le dogun ko dogun o, omo ode’. (Omo ode is guilty; we cannot forget enmity and if it wants to turn to war, I am ready). I was embarrassed as were my fans who were present at the party. They came to me and threatened that if I failed to reply Adawa (Dele Abiodun) point blank that night, they would leave my fans club and join his. I was very confused because I took their threat very seriously. I just boarded the Civilian bus which I just bought for my band boys and took a bottle of Johnny Walker. Though I was not a church person then, that day, I knew God. I asked Him for wisdom to be able to compose music that would suit the purpose that night. I went into deep thought and then, it came to my head, ‘E juba fomo ode, Peter… Omo ode de, omo eran da…’ I just jumped out of the vehicle and called my band boys and gave instructions about the new song we wanted to sing that night. In five minutes, we were through but Dele Abiodun refused to leave the stage for us. Then, I set up my own instruments and as I started, ‘E juba fomo ode, Peter,’ there was uproar and everybody left his stage and came to my side. That was how we faced each other until the end of the party. For more than two weeks, his vehicle was impounded by fans and hoodlums for attacking me openly after wining and drinking together. And what’s more, he had gone to the studio and waxed the record already without my knowledge. After a week or so, he released the record and that was when I realised fully that a war had started. It was Dele Abiodun that triggered the musical fight between me and King Sunny Ade. When Sunny Ade sang his ‘E kilo fomo Ode’, I did not read any meaning to it more than that he was refining an old song by Ambrose Campbell. But later, people were coming to tell me that I was the one that was called ‘Omo Ode’.
So you never called yourself Omo Ode?
Not at all; but when Dele Abiodun faced me and sang the way he did, I did not have any other choice than to face him and reply him, more so when my fans threatened to change camp if I failed to reply him.
If Dele Abiodun referred to you as ‘Omo Ode’, why did Sunny Ade join?
I didn’t believe Sunny Ade was referring to me until Dele Abiodun in my presence sang, ‘O jebi o jebi Omo ode (Omo Ode is guilty). We were at a burial party and I didn’t understand why he chose to go for such a song that was not relevant to the occasion. That was when I took it that he and Sunny Ade were referring to me as ‘Omo Ode’. My fans did not help matters either when they urged me to dare him by replying him right there. In those days, your fan club was your life wire as a showman. I felt so challenged that day but God gave me the answer. Even when the album came out, it turned out to be a chart buster. Through the record, I received awards in London.
After the show that day, did you and Dele Abiodun sit down and probably laugh over what happened?
How would that be possible when he had to run away and leave his boys? It was a war because all the hoodlums around who were also my fans impounded his instruments and vehicle.
You mentioned King Sunny Ade and Dele Abiodun. These two till date are still around, but we have not heard about you for a long time. What happened?
What happened to me can be described as one of life’s ups and downs but I thank God I am still alive. I experienced what I will describe as ‘wickedness in operation’. I fell sick and later travelled out of the country. When I came back, I went back to music. That time, it was a real war; you would be playing on stage and hired killers and others would come. But for the Grace of God, I could have gone to the great beyond ever since, but I have bounced back. Last year, I released ‘Igba Otun’. Tell anyone that cares to listen that Pick Peter is back and very hot.
It was rumoured that it was people like Sunny Ade that ‘buried’ your talent. Is that correct?
I don’t believe that was correct because my God is always with me. Nobody can bury my talent because nobody except God gave me the talent. I think what happened to me was just one of the low moments man experiences in life.
Then people said you were a threat to him.
I was not a threat to Sunny Ade. He plays music and I play music. Just like in your office, if somebody left and another person with the same qualification is employed, how can the newly employed be a threat to the one that left? He left TYC when the agreement was not yet ended and they took him to court. When I waxed my first record under another company, the record sold like hot cakes and shook the entire country. TYC discovered me and I went there to record my album, how did that translate to a threat?
Culled from Punchng.
Juju musician, Emperor Pick Peter, a contemporary of King Sunny Ade and Admiral Dele Abiodun, tells ADEOLA BALOGUN about his career and life experiences (Excerpts)
Why were you and Sunny Ade always having issues?
We were rivals in music then. Then, we were playing politics in music. We were friends notwithstanding the way we tackled each other. It is what can be described as musical politics. When Sunny Ade waxed his record, E kilo f’omo Ode, it was not new. Ambrose Campbell had done it before but what Sunny Ade did was to polish and modernise it.
But people said he was referring to you as ‘Omo Ode’ (hunter’s son)…
Let me tell you what happened. There was a day that I went to a party. They invited me and Admiral Dele Abiodun. I had earlier been invited to Abeokuta for an afternoon party before we came back to Lagos. At the party in Lagos in the night, we met Admiral Dele Abiodun who also came with his instruments. My instruments were so massive and sophisticated and the venue was too small for the two of us to set our instruments. While we were settling down, I told my boys to go and bring a giant jar of White Horse whiskey from my car. Dele Abiodun, all our band boys and I shared the drink and enjoyed ourselves. When it was midnight, I told him, ‘go and start playing; if you play for one hour, then I would play for one hour so that the stage would not be rowdy’. When my friend got to the stage, what came out of his mouth was ‘O jebi o jebi omo ode. A o le sinmi ote rara, boba le dogun ko dogun o, omo ode’. (Omo ode is guilty; we cannot forget enmity and if it wants to turn to war, I am ready). I was embarrassed as were my fans who were present at the party. They came to me and threatened that if I failed to reply Adawa (Dele Abiodun) point blank that night, they would leave my fans club and join his. I was very confused because I took their threat very seriously. I just boarded the Civilian bus which I just bought for my band boys and took a bottle of Johnny Walker. Though I was not a church person then, that day, I knew God. I asked Him for wisdom to be able to compose music that would suit the purpose that night. I went into deep thought and then, it came to my head, ‘E juba fomo ode, Peter… Omo ode de, omo eran da…’ I just jumped out of the vehicle and called my band boys and gave instructions about the new song we wanted to sing that night. In five minutes, we were through but Dele Abiodun refused to leave the stage for us. Then, I set up my own instruments and as I started, ‘E juba fomo ode, Peter,’ there was uproar and everybody left his stage and came to my side. That was how we faced each other until the end of the party. For more than two weeks, his vehicle was impounded by fans and hoodlums for attacking me openly after wining and drinking together. And what’s more, he had gone to the studio and waxed the record already without my knowledge. After a week or so, he released the record and that was when I realised fully that a war had started. It was Dele Abiodun that triggered the musical fight between me and King Sunny Ade. When Sunny Ade sang his ‘E kilo fomo Ode’, I did not read any meaning to it more than that he was refining an old song by Ambrose Campbell. But later, people were coming to tell me that I was the one that was called ‘Omo Ode’.
So you never called yourself Omo Ode?
Not at all; but when Dele Abiodun faced me and sang the way he did, I did not have any other choice than to face him and reply him, more so when my fans threatened to change camp if I failed to reply him.
If Dele Abiodun referred to you as ‘Omo Ode’, why did Sunny Ade join?
I didn’t believe Sunny Ade was referring to me until Dele Abiodun in my presence sang, ‘O jebi o jebi Omo ode (Omo Ode is guilty). We were at a burial party and I didn’t understand why he chose to go for such a song that was not relevant to the occasion. That was when I took it that he and Sunny Ade were referring to me as ‘Omo Ode’. My fans did not help matters either when they urged me to dare him by replying him right there. In those days, your fan club was your life wire as a showman. I felt so challenged that day but God gave me the answer. Even when the album came out, it turned out to be a chart buster. Through the record, I received awards in London.
After the show that day, did you and Dele Abiodun sit down and probably laugh over what happened?
How would that be possible when he had to run away and leave his boys? It was a war because all the hoodlums around who were also my fans impounded his instruments and vehicle.
You mentioned King Sunny Ade and Dele Abiodun. These two till date are still around, but we have not heard about you for a long time. What happened?
What happened to me can be described as one of life’s ups and downs but I thank God I am still alive. I experienced what I will describe as ‘wickedness in operation’. I fell sick and later travelled out of the country. When I came back, I went back to music. That time, it was a real war; you would be playing on stage and hired killers and others would come. But for the Grace of God, I could have gone to the great beyond ever since, but I have bounced back. Last year, I released ‘Igba Otun’. Tell anyone that cares to listen that Pick Peter is back and very hot.
It was rumoured that it was people like Sunny Ade that ‘buried’ your talent. Is that correct?
I don’t believe that was correct because my God is always with me. Nobody can bury my talent because nobody except God gave me the talent. I think what happened to me was just one of the low moments man experiences in life.
Then people said you were a threat to him.
I was not a threat to Sunny Ade. He plays music and I play music. Just like in your office, if somebody left and another person with the same qualification is employed, how can the newly employed be a threat to the one that left? He left TYC when the agreement was not yet ended and they took him to court. When I waxed my first record under another company, the record sold like hot cakes and shook the entire country. TYC discovered me and I went there to record my album, how did that translate to a threat?
Culled from Punchng.
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