King Sunny Ade, often billed as the "African Bob Marley," was inducted into the Afropop Hall of Fame last week in Brooklyn, N.Y.

A native of Lagos, Nigeria, Ade became an international spectacle of world music while touring Europe and North America in the early '80s, performing Nigerian juju music.

From the mid '60s through the mid '90s, Ade averaged an output of three albums per year, culminating in more than 120 albums to date.

Now at 62, Ade is considered an architect of the juju style, big-band dance music. His impressive song writing resume and charismatic performances have earned him score composition jobs in Hollywood-not to mention an acting role in National Lampoon's O.C. & Stiggs. He is the only native African to ever be nominated twice for a Grammy award.

In a 1987 New York Times review of his Beacon Theater concert, Jon Pareles asserts, "His modern juju is still the multilayered, intoxicating marvel that makes him one of the world's great band leaders."

Today, he remains active in Nigeria handling many business ventures, including the King Sunny Adé Foundation, a non-profit designed to bring music and performing arts to Nigerian housing communities.

--Matthew Feick