Oladipupo Adekoya Campbell

Oladipupo Adekoya Campbell , a.k.a. Ambrose Campbell, arguably the pioneer of black music in the UK passed away on the 22 June earlier this year, just before his 87th birthday. Born in Lagos Nigeria on 19 August 1919 , his love for music started at an early age when he sang in the church choir. As a teenager he used to hang around the Lagos docks with the seamen who used to gather together playing music and drinking palm wine. The young Campbell played music with them and not surprisingly he opted for a life at sea as well, joining the Elder Dempsey as a stoker during the Second World War. However, it was not very long before he realised that this was not the life for him and settled down on shore.

He formed a band called the ‘West African Rhythm Brothers' and created quite a stir with their VE Day performance at Trafalgar square. One can only imagine what living conditions must have been like in those days or how war ravaged London embraced her black neighbours from Africa and the Caribbean, but in 1946 Campbell and his band took to the stage with Les Ballets Nègres, Britain 's first black ballet group and went on tour with them. They also appeared on TV!

Campbell and the band took up residence at the Abalabi club in Soho , owned by Ola Dosumu, a fellow Nigerian and his wife. Campbell mainly sang in Yoruba and English and played percussion to start with but Lauderic Caton a Trinidadian taught him how to play the guitar. There were a few West Indians in the band as well, so their music was a curious blend of highlife and palm wine music tinged with a Caribbean flavour. At the Abalabi they rubbed shoulders with the rich and famous, debutantes, and contemporary jazz artists who came to sample the new African sound and dance. Campbell made friends with the likes of Ronnie Scott, Tubby Hayes, Kenny Graham and Phil Seamen famous musicians who each played in his band and learned some of their art from him. The famous playwright Bernard Shaw was a close friend as was Colin McInnes who was godfather to one of his sons. When the Dosunmu's moved to Club Afrique in Wardour Street , Campbell and the band went with them.

In the early 1970s Campbell moved to the USA where he joined forces with record producer Denny Cordell and Leon Russell. He subsequently went on tour with Russell and one of his most prized possessions was his gold disc for his part in the Nelson/Russell collaboration ‘One for the Road' which sold a million copies.

Campbell travelled all over the world and played with both black and white, young and old and using a variety of instruments. He recorded the longest number of issues for Melodisc and influenced some of the greatest musicians of our time including the Beetles. Paul McCartney is said to have got the words of one of their most famous songs ‘Obladi' from Campbell and on the home front Fela proclaimed him to be the founder of modern Nigerian music. He was loved and respected by all and entertained his audiences for more than 60 years, right up until last year when he recorded a compilation of his earliest recordings ‘London is the Place for me' on the Honest Jones label. Ambrose Campbell was a truly inspirational icon and national treasure. He is survived by his 5 children.