With music that cuts across international styles and cultures, renowned afro-pop innovator Sonny Okosuns has released African Soldiers, his first US album featuring all new materials, for Profile Records. Hailed internationally as one of the premier contemporary African musicians, sonny has been a the forefront of new African music for the last two decades.

Sonny got his start in the 1960s during the early days of the newly independent Nigeria. Influenced by foreign groups like The Beatles, Elvis Presley, James Brown and Otis Redding, Sonny taught himself to play guitar, drums and piano before starting his own West African teen sensation bands “Postmen” and “Paperbacks.”

By the early 1970s Sonny decided to craft his own style and fashion. Mixing various streams of international music, he coined his musical gospel “ozziddizm” – Ibo for “There is a Message.” Sonny’s ;ambition was to create an authentic and original indigenous African sound capable of neutralizing and/or totally eclipsing the acculturating effects of Western culture and music.

The resulting sound blended together – for the first time anywhere – all forms of African music. Reuniting the sounds of the African continent with those of the African diaspora, Sonny created a musical patchwork which incorporated Nigerian highlife, Central African rumbas, American funk, Latin Calypso and Jamaican reggae.

Opting to reach out to all of the world, sonny’s lyrics are spiritually political with a message that is a universal one – peace and understanding. In order for his music to appeal to all of Africa, as well as the ret of the world, Sonny intentionally sings in a mix of English and his native Ishan.

Sonny’s international music outlook and message resulted in work with reggae greats Peter Tosh and Eddy Grant (Sonny was the first African musician to fully embrace and create an African reggae sound). As Nigeria’s musical ambassador Sonny has played command performances for many heads of state an garnered an impressive array of awards.

It is in Africa, though, where Sonny is most popular. He has released over 16 albums on the continent (with many attaining gold status) and has been banned in South Africa for his African consciousness and anti-apartheid lyrics. He has also received a number of citations from various Nigerian presidents and served as President of Performing Musicians associations of Nigeria.

Recognized by Rolling Stone for crafting music that “makes for both accessibility and a joyous aural meltdown,” Sonny’s appeal to the international audience is timeless and provides a fresh change of pace from the techno-ghettorized state of contemporary Western music.