Popular Juju musician, King Sunny Ade has made a shocking confession: “It is hard to believe but I don’t know how to chase women. Honestly, I don’t know how to say to a girl that I love her and I want to be her lover. I cannot remember ever saying those words. I am only lucky because before I talk to a girl, she already knows what is on my mind. That makes it easy for me because the only thing I cannot stand is rejection from a girl. I don’t even know what to say to a girl I like apart from good day.”
“My fear is for any girl to refuse my approach. I can remember writing a love letter once in my life. But I received hundreds. And the reason I wrote that letter was because the girl was about to travel out of the country with the family. Poor me. I did not receive any reply from her.”
“I had already formed my band before I was able to start a relationship. I met her (Ayo is her name) in the thick of the Nigerian war (1967/1968) in Lagos. It was tough time for us as musicians. Nobody was throwing any party. And if you go to the hotel to play, the army would arrest you. I had nothing on me. But she stood by me all the same. She came from a wealthy family so I did not even bother to ask her to marry me, an ordinary struggling musician. But she was there for me as the tension in Lagos as elsewhere prevented real business to go on. She would go to the extent of bringing money from her parents for me. But the moment I managed to play somewhere, I always paid her back. I have that habit of paying back any money I take from a woman. This is because I believe that If I don’t pay back, she might ask for it when I might not have it and a third party would know.”
“It would have been a romantic and long lasting relationship but both of us were inexperienced.”
– Culled from the book, KSA My Life My Music
