2nd November, 2021
Nigeria’s world renowned musician Fela Anikulapo Kuti was honoured Monday in London, just about two weeks after his posthumous 83rd birthday.
The honour was bestowed on him by the English Heritage, which attached a blue plaque on 12 Stanlake Road residence at Shepherd’s Bush, where Fela first lived when he came to London to study music.
The plaque read: Fela Anikulapo Kuti(1938-1997), singer, multi instrumentalist, composer and Nigerian activist. Lived in this house as a student in 1958″.
In 1958, Fela arrived London from Nigeria to study medicine. But he decided to study music instead at the Trinity College of Music.
The rest is history.
Fela has now joined other notable music artists who have been so honoured with the blue plaque by English Heritage.
Bob Marley, one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, like Fela, had also been honoured with a blue plaque on the house where he and The Wailers finished recording their iconic album Exodus.
Also honoured was the guitarist and songwriter Jimi Hendrix, who became an overnight sensation with the release of his band’s first single, ‘Hey Joe’, in 1966.
London’s famous blue plaques link the people of the past with the buildings of the present, according to the information on the website of English Heritage.
Now run by English Heritage, the London blue plaques scheme was started in 1866 and is thought to be the oldest of its kind in the world.
Across the capital over 950 plaques, on buildings humble and grand, honour the notable men and women who have lived or worked in them.