Tony Allen, the afrobeat pioneer, composer, songwriter and legendary drummer for Fela has died, at the age of 79 in a hospital in Paris, France.
Tony Allen was born in Lagos and lived in Paris, he was in Fela’s band from 1968 to 1979 and was a self-taugh musician who started playing drums at the age of 18, while working as an engineer for a Nigerian radio station.
The cause of death is not thought to be from the coronavirus but is still not known. His manager Eric Trosset said, “We don’t know the exact cause of death, he was in great shape, it was quite sudden. I spoke to him at 1:00 pm (1100 GMT), then two hours later he was sick and taken to Pompidou hospital where he died”.
Fela once said, “Without Tony Allen, there would be no Afrobeat.” He was also described by Brian Eno as “perhaps the greatest drummer who has ever lived“.
