Google remembers Oliver De Coque on 74th post-humous birthday
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Google has remembered Nigerian guitarist, Chief Oliver De Coque on his 74th post-humous birthday.
Oliver de Coque, it could be recalled, died on June 20 in 2008 after a sudden cardiac arrest that led to his death.
He was ill for three months.
Oliver is fondly remembered for several hit tracks that got Nigerians spiraling their waists since mid-1970s.
Since releasing his debut album Messiah Messiah in 1977, he had recorded no fewer than 93 albums.
His dance-inspiring “Ogene” style of Nigerian highlife, which blends modern highlife and traditional Igbo music, has produced such hits as “People’s Club of Nigeria”,“Nnempi Social Club”, “Biri Ka Mbiri,” “Ana Enwe, Obodo Enwe”, “Nnukwu Mmanwu,” and “Identity,” which remained on Radio Nigeria 2’s Top Ten throughout most of 1981.
Playing music since the age of 11, Oliver de Coque was taught to play the guitar by Piccolo, a Congolese guitarist living in Nigeria.
Serving an apprenticeship with juju stars Sunny Agaga and Jacob Oluwale, he was a star by his late teens.
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Oliver is also considered as the most flamboyant Igbo musician.
Attracting international attention with a London performance in 1973, he played on Prince Nico Mbarga’s album Sweet Mother four years later.
Coque was often backed by his brother Eugene’s Igede International Band. Oliver’s sons Edu de Coque, Safin de Coque and Solar de Coque are also musicians.
He died at the age of 61 in 2008. Oliver de coque married four wives and he is a father of twelve children.
[Additional report courtesy of Wikipedia]
