Sugar Daddy

A joyful gem of a record that was almost lost forever, Sugar Daddy is endlessly infectious, combining funky basslines with intricate guitar playing, joyful horns, and gentle vocals on all three of its sprawling tracks. Joe King Kologbo’s playing is free flowing but precise, a testament to the decades he spent playing nightly gigs in Nigeria’s coolest clubs, from Lagos to Aba. Like that of many other Nigerian musicians, his life and career were put on stop by the bloody war that swept Nigeria between 1967 and 1970. He and his family temporarily relocated to Ghana, where he absorbed the Ghanian style of highlife. Once the war was over the Nigerian scene bounced back with a vengeance, and with a harder, rawer edge. Kolobo quickly became a sought after guitarist thanks to his versatility in playing different styles, and even joined superstar Victor Olaiya’s band. Sugar Daddy was originally released in 1980, and is a testament to the unique personal style he’d developed over the decades playing with other people.