TONY Allen, the former drummer of Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, and co-founder of the musical genre, has died after a brief illness in Paris, France.
Disclosing Allen’s demise, his manager Eric Trosset told AFP that his death was sudden. He said, “We don’t know the exact cause of death. He was in great shape, it was quite sudden. I spoke to him at 1:00 pm (1100 GMT), then two hours later he was sick and taken to Pompidou hospital where he died.”
The deceased was the drummer responsible for the syncopated drumming that breathed rhythmic life into Fela’s Afrobeat genre. “Without Tony Allen, there would be no Afrobeat,” Fela once famously said.
Allen and Fela recorded about 40 albums together as Africa ’70, before parting ways after a mythic 26-year relationship.
May the soul of the dead rest in peace.