'How I Built D’BANJ, ASA, Lagbaja, Obesere & Co. Into BIG Brands'

Sunday Are, the CEO of List Entertainment,
an artist management outfit that is a
household name amongst music stars.
The
Ijebu born hard-working man has worked
with a long list of A-list musicians, including,
Onyeka Onwenu, Christy Essien Igbokwe,
Majek Fashek, Lagbaja, Toni Tetuila, Tunde
& Wunmi Obe, Asa, Obesere, African China,
D’banj, Don Jazzy and a host of others.
How did the journey start?
The journey started in 1979, I was a young
boy then. I am from a very humble
polygamous background. I lost my father
when I was very young, so I had to look for a
way to fend for myself. I thought of what to
do and since I love music, I decided to do
music. There used to be a popular music
group then called The Roots Foundation, they
were based in Surulere and lived close to my
house so I began to work with them. I started
working with them when they just released
their first album, I think. When they released
the album, the owner of Punch Newspaper,
the late Aboderin, bought all of them brand
new Volkswagen cars and I was always
happy to be around them. When they
realised that I had passion for music, they
brought me into their house and I lived with
them. While I was living with them, I started
learning how to play the drums because my
boss, Prince B (Prince Bola Agba) , a member
of the band was a both drummer and a
singer; he was the one who introduced drum
sets to Juju music and he did that for King
Sunny Ade. From there, I began to learn
Sound Engineering. I set up a rehearsal/demo
studio right inside our compound and people
would come to record demo and all that. So I
started as a drummer and a Sound Engineer
before I metamorphosed into an artiste
manager, setting up bands and all that.
When did your career kick off
professionally?
I would say 1984. I left The Roots Foundation
to work with another band, October Band.
The band did an album for Orlando Julius,
who was based in the U.S then. The album
was launched at Caban Bamboo, Bobby
Benson’s hotel and we also did one at the
National Arts Theatre. After that, the band
followed Orlando to the U.S. When they left,
I went back to my boss, Prince B. I also had
another boss called Richard Cole, the band
leader of The Groovies (Bongos Ikwue’s
group). I later worked with KK band; they
were working with Mandy Brown of Taxi
Driver fame, Terra Kota, Dizzy K Falola and
others. While I was managing the band, I
worked with these musicians. In 1987,
Richard Cole of The Groovies and Arakatula
of blessed memory, both came to me and
they told me they wanted to set up a band
for the late Christy Essien Igbokwe, and that
I should manage the band. I worked with
them for sometime before I moved on to
work with Majek Fashek. Majek knew me
way back before I started working for him.
He used to be in a group called Jah Stix and
they hired instrument from us. So he told me
one day when we met at Raggae Sun Splash
at Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) , that he
would be travelling to London to release his
album, “Prisoner Of Conscience “, the album
that had the monster hit song, “Send Down
The Rain” and that when he returned , I had
to start working for him. That was how I
began to work with him.
When did you have your big break?
The big break came in 1987 when I was
working with Majek Fashek. “Send Down The
Rain” was so huge that it took us everywhere
in the world. We were always on tour,
everybody wanted to see him perform. It was
a great experience for me and I cherished
that moment a lot. It was the defining
moment in my career. It was a period when I
met a lot of people, it was a period big stars
looked for me to work for them. It was at
that time I met Mr Laolu Akins and I worked
with him at Sony Music. I learnt a lot of
things from him on music production. I was
able to discover some talents when I was
working with him. One of the talents I
discovered and took to Sony Music was Abass
Akande Obesere. I co-produced Asakasa,
OBTK and Mr Teacher. In 1989, I went on
tour with Majek Fashek in the U.S. The tour
w