5 Reasons Fela Kuti Should Be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Fela Kuti was fated for greatness but not the musical kind. Son of Nigerian elite, Kuti was raised by a father who served as an Anglican minister and teacher's-union organizer and a mother who was both an aristocrat and a women's-rights advocate.
Then he landed in London, where he discarded a promised career in medicine – both of his brothers were already doctors – and quickly became a fixture on the club scene. Something new had sprung to life inside of Kuti, who quickly formed his first band and began constructing a sharp new mixture of traditional West African sounds, soul and R&B with a touch jazz.