An absolute music legend has gone completely unexpectedly from us. His manager announced the cause of death.
- The musician Tony Allen died in Paris at the age of 79 .
- The Nigerian drummer legend was a co-founder of the Afrobeat .
- The cause of death is now known: he succumbed to an abdominal aortic aneurysm .
Update from May 4, 2020 : The reason for the surprising death of Tony Allen at the age of 79 is now clear. The cause of death was his manager Eric Trosset according to various media - including the New York Times - known. Accordingly, the music legend succumbed to an abdominal aortic aneurysm .
Tony Allen's death was unexpected - even for his manager, who said shortly afterwards: "It came all of a sudden."
"Tony Allen was certainly one of the best drummers on the planet," said music journalist Abdul Okwechime , who knew Allen from his childhood in Lagos, the dpa. "At that time we called him the doctor of drums." Fela Kuti's son Femi wrote a farewell on Twitter: "RIP Mr Tony Allen" ("Rest in peace, Mr Tony Allen").
Flea , bassist of the radio rocker Red Hot Chili Peppers , particularly touched Allen: “What a wild guy, with a huge, friendly and free heart and the deepest, unique groove. I was lucky enough to spend many hours with him, penned up in a London studio, we jammed our way through the day. It was damn heavenly. He was and is still my hero. ”In the Rocket Juice & The Moon project, Allen was literally the driving force alongside Flea and the former Blur frontman Damon Albarn .
Music legend dies unexpectedly - "That came all of a sudden"
Our article from May 1st, 2020:
Paris - The music world has to cope with a new loss: drummer legend Tony Allen is dead. The Nigerian musician died on Thursday at the age of 79 in Paris, his manager Eric Trosset told the AFP news agency. The cause of death is unclear. However, Corona was not the reason for Allen's surprising death.
"He was completely healthy, that came suddenly," said Trosset. He spoke to Allen at noon, two hours later the musician felt uncomfortable and was taken to the Pompidou hospital. He then died there. The musician lived in Courbevoie near Paris. During his lifetime he became the co-founder of the Afrobeat.
Music legend died in Paris: Tony Allen is dead - he developed the Afrobeat
Allen was the drummer and musical director of his compatriot Fela Kuti in the 1960s and 1970s . With him he developed the Afrobeat . This combines genres such as jazz, funk and traditional Nigerian drum rhythms and became one of the most important trends in African music in the 20th century.
At the age of 18, Allen taught himself to play the drums. He found musical inspiration in jazz greats such as Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker , but also in contemporary African music. With Fela and the Africa 70 group, Allen recorded around 40 music albums. After 26 years of cooperation, they finally separated. Allen's drums were so intense that Fela needed four drummers to replace Allen.
Drummer Tony Allen is dead: he last played with the former Blur singer
British musician and producer Brian Enoder described him as "perhaps the greatest drummer who ever lived" . Allen recently played drums in the project The Good, The Bad and The Queen by Damon Albarn, the former band leader of Blur .
Drummer Tony Allen is dead. The musician died in Paris on Thursday at the age of 79. He is considered the co-founder of the Afrobeat. @t_allenafrobeat https://t.co/Q2Bl3jp96M pic.twitter.com/ZVsLfbqXNu
- Deutschlandfunk Kultur (@dlfkultur) May 1, 2020Perhaps even more formative than Tony Allen for Afrobeat was Kraftwerk co-founder Florian Schneider-Esleben for electronic music. Now the music pioneer died at the age of 73.
The successful Jamaican singer Millie Small reached the same age.
The cause of Cady Groves' death is still unclear. The country singer died at the age of only 30.
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Little Richard is dead. The legendary US musician died at the age of 87. The cause of death is still unclear.
AFP / jbr
