Peter King

Peter King Biography / Profile

Peter King Adeyoyin Osubu popularly known as Peter King was born in 1938 in Enugu state, Nigeria but grew up in Lokoja, Lagos, and Port Harcourt.

Peter King Age

Not available.

Peter King Early Life

In 1961, At 23, he went to London, England where he studied at various schools of music, including Trinity College of Music.

Peter King Career

Peter King, is a Nigerian musician who played several instruments, but was best known as an alto saxophonist playing a combination of Afrobeat and jazz.

At 19, he joined the Roy Chicago band in Ibadan, playing the maracas and then the conga drum. He moved to other bands in Ibadan and then Lagos, playing the double bass, drums and then the alto sax.

He had his first contact with the band when he was 18 at the insistence of his friend to whom he had casually mentioned that he could play the maracas and claves while they were watching a Roy Chicago concert. His friend insisted that he got up on the stage and played with the band. He was hesistant to do so without speaking first to the band leader. He eventually did though and the rest became history.

He came up with his own unique blend of Highlife, Jazz, Afrobeat and Funk, he toured with his African Jazz Messengers band and was still in Europe as disco was taking over the dance floors in the 1970s. He dived into the genre and served as director of music on Boney M’s first European tour

While in London, King joined with drummer Bayo Martins and trumpeter Mike Falana to form the "African Messengers group". They performed at festivals and clubs and served as backup band for acts like The Four Tops, The Temptations and Diana Ross. The group recorded many 45rpm records.

King formed another band "The Blues Builders" with which he toured Europe and Northern Africa.

King returned to Nigeria in 1969 with a new group "The Voice of Africa" and they performed on the war front during the Nigerian Civil War. Returning to London in 1971, he toured Europe, America and Japan with his group Shango. He assembled and arranged a big band to back the singing group Boney M on their first live concert tour across Europe in 1977.

He recorded nine studio albums between 1975 and 1978, and wrote music for several plays and television shows.

In 1979, He returned to Nigeria and formed the P.K band, composing music for soap operas and recording three further albums. In the early 1980s Peter King and his P.K. Band played on the NTA and at the National Museum, Lagos, for three years.

in 1982, Peter King founded his own music school located in a three-room apartment in Maza Maza. The whole idea of setting up the school was born when King returned from London in the late 1970s and was frustrated by the standard of his fellow musicians. At first, the school had about 30 students, though since then has expanded greatly, and the school is now located in Badagry. The school has been assisted by Canadian musicians Oliver Jones and Archie Allen and greatly assisted by the French government. Almost two thousand students have graduated from the school since 1982. The school provides practical tuition and grants certificates and diplomas. It prepares students for the professional examinations of Associate, Licentiate and Fellowship of the Trinity, Royal and London Schools of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Graduates from the school are spread throughout Nigeria’s music industry and beyond. The most famous is the singer-songwriter Asa, who has made waves on the international scene

In January 2007, the French Ambassador in Nigeria inaugurated the new facilities of the Peter King school of music at Badagry, Lagos State.

Peter King is perhaps better known in Europe and America than in Nigeria for his "Miliki Sound" on the record A Soulful Peter King, where he played popular classics such as "Sincerely", "We Belong Together" and "Just Because.

In an interview, he states that his drive comes from the frustration he feels when he listens to music and feels nothing.