Legendary Nigerian musician, William Onyeabor known for his song ‘When the going is smooth and good’ is dead. It was his first son, Charles who is currently in Italy confirmed his death saying, ‘yea, my dad is dead. He died peacefully on Monday January 16, 2017 at his palace in Enugu”.
Before his death, Onyeabor had 10 studio albums, has a cult following especially outside Nigeria. Onyeabor’s songs are often heavily rhythmic and synthesized, occasionally epic in scope, with lyrics decrying war and sung by both Onyeabor himself and female backing vocalists.
In 2014, the music website Noisey, affiliated to Vice magazine, released a 31-minute documentary entitled Fantastic Man that documented Onyeabor’s history and legacy as well as Noisey’s attempt to track him down for an interview. 2014 also saw a touring supergroup called the Atomic Bomb! Band come together to play Onyeabor’s music at a series of concerts and festivals around the world.
In December 2014, Onyeabor made his first radio appearance on the Lauren Laverne Show on BBC 6 Music, where he said “I only create music that will help the world,” whilst also admitting that he has never played live, and announcing that he had plans to release new material
