Ebo Taylor

Ebo Taylor
Taylor in 2013
Background information
Born
Deroy Taylor

(1936-01-06)6 January 1936
Cape Coast, Gold Coast
OriginAccra, Ghana
Died7 February 2026(2026-02-07) (aged 90)
Saltpond, Ghana
Genres
Occupations
  • Guitarist
  • singer
  • composer
  • bandleader
  • record producer
Years activeLate 1950s–2026[1]
Labels

Ebo Taylor (born Deroy Taylor;[2] 6 January 1936 – 7 February 2026) was a Ghanaian guitarist, composer, bandleader, record producer and arranger focusing on highlife and afrobeat music.

Life and career

Born Deroy Taylor in Cape Coast, in what was then the Gold Coast colony, on 6 January 1936,[3] he started playing piano at the age of six.[4]

Taylor was a pivotal figure on the Ghanaian music scene for over six decades. In the late 1950s, he was active in the influential highlife bands the Stargazers and the Broadway Dance Band. In 1962, Taylor took his group, the Black Star Highlife Band, to London where he collaborated with Nigerian afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti as well as other African musicians.[5][6]

Returning to Ghana, Taylor worked as a producer for musicians such as Pat Thomas and C. K. Mann—as well as pursued solo projects—combining traditional Ghanaian material with afrobeat, jazz, and funk rhythms to create his own recognizable sound in the 1970s. He was the inhouse guitar player, arranger, and producer for Essiebons, founded by Dick Essilfie Bondzie.[7]

In 1992, Ghetto Concept included his afrobeats in their music.

Taylor's work became popular internationally with hip-hop producers in the 21st century.[8] In 2008, Taylor met the Berlin-based musicians of the Afrobeat Academy band, including saxophonist Ben Abarbanel-Wolff, which led to the release of the album Love and Death with Strut Records (his first internationally distributed album) in 2010.[1][9][10] The same year, Usher used a sample from Taylor's song "Heaven" for "She Don't Know" with Ludacris.[11] His songs were also sampled by artists including the Black Eyed Peas, Kelly Rowland, Jidenna, Vic Mensa and Rapsody.[2][12]

He collaborated again with the Afrobeat Academy in Berlin in 2011. In 2017, his Ghanaian funk anthem "Come Along" was popular among DJs.[7]

The success of Love and Death prompted Strut to issue the retrospective Life Stories: Highlife & Afrobeat Classics 1973–1980, in the spring of 2011. A year later, in 2012, a third Strut album, Appia Kwa Bridge, was released. Appia Kwa Bridge showed that at 77 years old, Taylor remained creative, mixing traditional Fante songs and chants with children's rhymes and personal stories into his own sharp vision of highlife.[13]

He performed at the 2015 edition of the annual Stanbic Jazz Festival along with Earl Klugh, Ackah Blay and others.[14]

In 2025, at the age of 89, Taylor received renewed attention in the United States through the label Jazz Is Dead after decades as an often unheralded force in West African music, according to a New York Times article by David Peisner.[15]

Death

Ebo Taylor died on February 7, 2026 in Saltpond, a town on the coast of Ghana.[4][12][16][17] A delegation from the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), led by its president, Bessa Simons, paid a condolence visit to his family in Saltpond.[18][19]

Awards and recognition

Selected discography

Albums

  • My Love and Music (LP) (Gapophone Records), 1976
  • Ebo Taylor (Essiebons), 1977
  • Twer Nyame (Philips-West African-Records), 1978
  • Me Kra Tsie - Ebo Taylor & Saltpond Barkers Choir (LP) (Essiebons), 1979
  • Conflict - Ebo Taylor & Uhuru Yenzu (Essiebons), 1980[23]
  • Calypso "Mahuno" and High Lifes Celebration - Pat Thomas & Ebo Taylor (Pan African Records), 1980
  • Hitsville Re-Visited - Ebo Taylor, Pat Thomas & Uhuru Yenzu (LP) (Essiebons), 1982
  • Abenkwan Puchaa (Essiebons), 2009
  • Love and Death (Strut Records), 2010
  • Life Stories: Best of Ebo Taylor 1973–80 (Strut Records), 2012
  • Appia Kwa Bridge (Strut Records), 2012
  • Yen Ara (Mr. Bongo), 2018
  • Palaver (Tabansi/BBE Music), 2019 (rec. 1980)
  • Ebo Taylor JID022 (Jazz Is Dead), 2025
As contributing artist

References

  1. ^ a b Amigone, Marc, "Love and Death, the New Album from Ghanaian Legend Ebo Taylor", Huffington Post. 25 March 2016
  2. ^ a b "Ebo Taylor: Ghana's influential highlife and Afrobeat musician dies at 90". www.bbc.com. 9 February 2026. Retrieved 9 February 2026.
  3. ^ Denselow, Robin (13 February 2026). "Ebo Taylor obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 March 2026.
  4. ^ a b "Ghana music legend Ebo Taylor dies at 90". Ghana Business News. 8 February 2026. Retrieved 8 February 2026.
  5. ^ "An Introduction to the Funky Ghanaian Afrobeat of Ego Taylor", The Vinyl Factory. 24 March 2016.
  6. ^ His Name is Ebo Taylor Kofi Musings. 24 March 2016.
  7. ^ a b Ekow Barnes (30 November 2020). "The Ghanaian musician who helped put West African music on the world map". CNN. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  8. ^ Ross, Will, "Ghana's Ebo Taylor on his new popularity", BBC News. 25 March 2016.
  9. ^ "Ebo Taylor | Music Biography, Credits and Discography". AllMusic. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  10. ^ Denselow, Robin "The playlist: world and folk music – Caetano Veloso, Moriarty, Shirley Collins, Ebo Taylor and more". The Guardian. 25 March 2016.
  11. ^ Denselow, Robin, "Ebo Taylor review – lend your ears to an Afrobeat story of love and death", The Guardian. March 25, 2016.
  12. ^ a b Snapes, Laura (9 February 2026). "Ebo Taylor, Ghanaian highlife pioneer and guitarist, dies age 90". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 9 February 2026.
  13. ^ "Hip Deep Ghana 1: Ebo Taylor | and the Pioneers of Afro Funk". Afropop. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  14. ^ "Earl Klugh arrives in Ghana for Stanbic Jazz Festival". GBN. 18 February 2015. Archived from the original on 20 May 2015. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  15. ^ Peisner, David (21 January 2025). "At 90, the Ghanaian Highlife Pioneer Ebo Taylor Finds a New Voice: The singer, guitarist and composer released heralded music in the 1970s and early '80s before retreating. The label Jazz Is Dead is boosting his rediscovery". New York Times. pp. C1, C4 (print version, front page of Arts section). Retrieved 9 February 2025.
  16. ^ "Ebo Taylor Dies at 90". Now Accra. 8 February 2026. Retrieved 10 February 2026.
  17. ^ Nossiter, Adam (13 February 2026). "Ebo Taylor, Musical Innovator of Highlife and Afrobeat, Dies at 90". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 24 February 2026.
  18. ^ "MUSIGA commiserates with Ebo Taylor's family, one-week observation date announced". GhanaWeb. 24 February 2026. Retrieved 2 March 2026.
  19. ^ "MUSIGA pays condolence visit to family of late Ebo Taylor". Joy Online. 24 February 2026. Retrieved 24 February 2026.
  20. ^ "Video: Ebo Taylor receives Life Time Achievement Award at 2014 VGMA Industry Awards - MyJoyOnline.com". www.myjoyonline.com. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  21. ^ Wonder, Jerry (11 September 2019). "Highlife Music Awards 2019 Receives Praises From Industry Players". Shine publications. Archived from the original on 9 November 2019. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
  22. ^ Acquah, Edward (15 February 2019). "Ebo Taylor receives Music Legend honorary at 2019 Ghana Business Awards". Kasapa102.5FM. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  23. ^ Dineen, Donal, "Sunken Treasure: Ebo Taylor & Uhuru Yenzu", Irish Times. 25 March 2016.
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