Pozo Hayes: My music career was inspired by Nigerian singer Sonny Okosun
The "Akeka Keka" hitmaker told Asaase 99.5 Accra that his love and passion for singing began while in primary school
Ghanaian highlife music legend, Nana Boakye Ofori Atta, better known as Pozo Hayes, has said his music career was mainly inspired by a Nigerian singer called Sonny Okosun.
The “Akeka Keka” hitmaker told Asaase 99.5 Accra that his love and passion for singing began while in primary school.
Appearing on the Red Carpet segment of the Asaase Breakfast Show on Wednesday (20 September), Pozo Hayes recalled: “I was singing in school from primary to secondary school. One day during an inter-school competition, I sang James Brown’s music, and the whole place went mad. After that, we formed a band called XYZ.”
“There was a popular Nigerian musician called Sonny Okosun and he was performing at Kokomlemle in Accra and I went there with my friend.
“At a certain time Sonny said he wanted someone who can sing and I told Jerry my friend to tell them I can sing; I mounted the stage and sang and that is how people got to know me,” Pozo Hayes said.
Listen to Pozo Hayes in the attached audio clip below.
About Sonny Okosun
Sonny Okosun (1 January 1947 – 24 May 2008) was a Nigerian musician, who was known as the leader of the Ozzidi Band.
He named his band Ozzidi after a renowned Ijaw river god, but to Okosun the meaning was “there is a message”. His surname is sometimes spelled Okosuns and his first name Sunny. He was one of the leading Nigerian musicians from the late 1970s to mid-1980s.
Okosun’s brand of African pop music, Ozzidi, is a synthesis of Afro-beat, reggae and funk music.
From 1977, he became known for protest songs about Pan-Africanism, freedom and a few other social and political issues affecting Africans.
Reporting by Fred Dzakpata in Accra
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