Ebo Taylor, the Ghanaian guitarist, composer and band leader whose work helped define the highlife genre and influenced generations of African musicians, has died at the age of 90, his family has announced.
Born Deroy Taylor in the city of Cape Coast in 1936, he rose to prominence during the late 1950s and early 1960s as highlife became Ghana’s dominant musical form.
He played with the era’s leading bands, including the Stargazers and the Broadway Dance Band, and gained a reputation for a distinctive guitar style and detailed arrangements.
Over a six-decade career, he fused Ghanaian rhythms with jazz, funk, soul and early Afrobeat and went on to inspire musicians beyond the continent.
In the last 25 years of his life, his music was rediscovered by a global audience with the release of tracks like Love & Death – his reflection on relationships and mortality – driving a fresh host of fans.
A formative period in Taylor’s musical development came in the early 1960s when he travelled to London to study music.
There, he worked alongside other African musicians, including Nigerian artist Fela Kuti.
Their collaboration is now viewed as part of a wider exchange of ideas that helped shape Afrobeat, the genre Fela would later bring to international attention, with highlife playing a significant role in its musical foundations.
On his return to Ghana, Taylor became a sought-after band leader, arranger and producer, working with some of the country’s most respected artists, including Pat Thomas and CK Mann.
Reflecting on his own influences, he told the BBC in 2014 that “with the advent of James Brown and funk music there was the opportunity to develop highlife music. Fela did a lot of work introducing the funk into the Yoruba music while comparatively I did almost the same thing in Ghana.”
Towards the end of the last century and the beginning of this, Taylor spent more time teaching music at the University of Ghana and working on other people’s output, the New York Times reported.
But he then returned to the studio and his new recordings began to attract attention well into later life, with albums such as Love & Death, Appia Kwa Bridge and Yen Ara reinforcing his standing as one of Ghana’s most important musical figures.
Taylor’s influence extended far beyond highlife.
In recent decades, his work has been taken up by international audiences through sampling, with elements of his recordings appearing in songs by artists across hip-hop and R&B.
Tracks including Heaven, Odofo Nyi Akyiri Biara and Love & Death have been sampled by performers including Usher, the Black Eyed Peas, Kelly Rowland, Jidenna, Vic Mensa and Rapsody, introducing his music to new listeners worldwide.
Talking about achieving wider recognition in his 70s he said: “I think I’ve had my day, though it came much later.”
In his tribute, top Ghanaian music producer Panji Anoff remembered how everybody used to call him “Uncle Ebo” but he treated everyone as an equal.
“He would sit with us, eat with us, drink and chill with us, some nearly 50 years his junior, as though we were all peers. He could relate with everybody, and if anybody ever needed a melody, Uncle Ebo would just plug in a guitar and show them the way,” Anoff told the BBC.
“We lost a legend whose contribution to music has created worldwide ripples. I take solace in the fact that I witnessed greatness in Uncle Ebo Taylor’s art form. Rest In Power!” singer and rapper Black Sherif said.
Across Ghana and the wider African diaspora, Taylor is recognised as a foundational figure whose work helped bridge traditional and modern sounds.
By grounding innovation in cultural continuity, he left behind a body of music that continues to inform contemporary styles, including afrobeats, and remains central to the story of African popular music.
By BBC News
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