Tony Oladipo Allen (12 August 1940 – 30 April 2020) was a Nigerian drummer, composer, and songwriter. He was one of the primary co-founders of the genre of Afrobeat music. Allen was the drummer and musical director of Fela Kuti’s band Africa ’70 from 1968 to 1979. Fela once stated that, “without Tony Allen, there would be no Afrobeat. He was described by Brian Eno as “perhaps the greatest drummer who has ever lived.”
Tony Allen was born in Lagos, Nigeria. He began playing drums at the age of 18, while working as an engineer for a radio station.
In 1964, Fela Kuti invited Allen to join a band he was forming. They began playing together in the Koola Lobitos, a band that fused jazz and highlife, with the music driven by Allen’s innovative drum patterns. In 1969, after touring the US, they added funk to the mix and Fela began writing increasingly angry and political lyrics. Afrobeat was born.
Allen recorded more than 30 albums with Fela and Africa ’70. But by the late 1970s, dissension was growing in the ranks of Africa ’70. Arguments over royalties/pay and recognition grew in intensity. As inventor of the rhythms that underpinned Afrobeat and musical director, Allen felt especially slighted. Fela did support Allen’s three solo recordings: Jealousy (’75), Progress (’77), No Accommodation For Lagos (’79), but by 1979, Allen chose to leave Africa ’70, taking many members with him. Allen formed his own group, recording No Discrimination in 1980, and performing in Lagos until emigrating to London in 1984. Later moving to Paris, Allen recorded with King Sunny Adé, Ray Lema and Manu Dibango.
The 80s proved to be a difficult period for Allen. In an interview in 2016 he described his four-year reliance on heroin. But by the 90s his life had dramatically changed for the better. Afrobeat had acquired a global popularity, and after Fela’s death in 1997 Allen was seen as the music’s torchbearer, just as he was demonstrating his enthusiasm for embracing new styles.
Post-Fela, Allen developed a hybrid sound, deconstructing and fusing Afrobeat with electronica, dub, R&B, and rap. Allen refers to this synthesis as Afrofunk. Tony Allen died of an aortic aneurysm in Paris on 30 April 2020.
Additional source: Wikipedia and The Guardian
Watch a short backstage interview he had with Africa Web TV in 2016 in Rotterdam