Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe AKA (Hypertension Doctor), often referred to simply as Osita Osadebe, was a Nigerian musician from Atani. Over the course of his career spanning more than four decades, he has become one of the most famous Igbo highlife musicians. His most famous hit was the 1984 single “Osondi Owendi,” which made him the leader of the highlife genre and became one of the most popular albums in Nigerian history.
Osadebe was born on March 17, 1936 in the Igbo town of Atani in southeastern Nigeria. He came from a line of singers and dancers from Igboland.His highlife genre included Igbo and traditional music elements. While attending school in Onitsha, a large trading town near Atani, Osadebe became interested in music.
Osadebe began his career as a singer in nightclubs in Lagos, southwest Nigeria. He was a member of the Empire Rhythm Orchestra under the direction of E.C.Arinze, where he acquired many of his musical skills. Osadebe, a prolific composer, released his first album in 1958 and wrote over 500 songs; Half of them were marketed. After working with the Stephen Amache Band and the Central Dance Band around 1964, Osadebe became the bandleader of his own group, The Sound Makers. As Osadebe became established, the style matured to include social commentary, similar to Fela Kuti’s but not as confrontational. The main themes of his comments were usually personal trials and hardships. He sang in English, Pidgin English and Igbo. Osadebe often expanded his songs to the delight of the audience, leaving room for the “people on the dance floor” to indulge in the song. He was nicknamed “The Blood Pressure Doctor” because of the “healing power of his music.”
After the Nigerian Civil War at the end of the 1960s, a mass exodus of the population of eastern Nigeria (particularly the Igbo) from western Nigeria led to the death of an influential figure in the high life of the then capital, Lagos. During and after the war, Osadebe kept scheduled concerts In Lagos, Jùjú music took hold in, followed by Afrobeat, and in the 1970s, James Brown and various other forms of music became popular in the city. In this same decade, Osadebe’s career had reached its zenith. After turning 50 in 1986, Osadebe started to give priority to fatherhood and gave more of his time to his son Obiora and his other children from his wives. One of Osita Osadebe’s last albums is Kedu America.
Osita Osadebe died in St. Mary’s Hospital Waterbury, Connecticut on 11 May 2007 after suffering from severe respiratory difficulties.
