Legendary Highlife Musician Pa Chris Ajilo Dies At 92

Legendary highlife singer, Pa Chris Ajilo, has died from malaria at the age of 92.

According to the singer’s caregiver, David Ekanem, the highlife singer had been battling malaria since last week. He died in a hospital this morning at 10:30 am

Ekanem said, “What happened is that he had malaria last week, so, we gave him malaria medication. The malaria persisted, and as there was no improvement after three days, we rushed him to a hospital at Ilesha, but there was no bed space”.

Ajilo is known for tracks like ‘Eko O Gba Gbere’, ‘Ariwo’, ‘Orilonise’, ‘Only You, ‘Tetede’, ‘Ojo Nlo’, and ‘Emi Mimo’.

He is considered one of the last of the generation including the likes of Victor Olaiya and Bobby Benson who formed the Nigerian Union of Musicians, the first guild for musicians.

Ajilo also produced for Polygraph which is currently known as Polygram Records and he worked on several albums, notably Olisa Osadebe’s ‘Osondu Owendi’.

The singer, whose full name is Christopher Ajilore, hails from Ijebu-Ijesa in Osun state.