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Fri, Mar

Highlife Icon Victor Olaiya Has Passed Away

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Veteran highlife musician, Victor Olaiya died at the age of 89 after a brief illness at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) on Wednesday.

The news of his demise was broken by the Managing Director of Evergreen Music Company Ltd, Bimbo Esho. 

Sir Victor Olaiya during his lifetime was a gifted trumpeter whos was known as “The Evil Genius of Highlife”.

Olaiya rose to global fame in the 1950s and 1960s after leaving the Bobby Benson Jam Session Orchestra to start his own band the Cool Cats in 1954. In the '60s, he performed at state balls in Lagos for Queen Elizabeth II with Louis Armstrong.

In 2012, He celebrated his more than 60 years on stage and in 2013, Victor Olaiya released a music video remix of Baby Jowo(Baby Mi Da) with 2face Idibia. He didn't stop there, before retiring in 2017 he had some hit tracks like “Omopupa”; “Jemila”, “Pambotoriboto” among others.

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