On July 11, 2021, veteran Nigerian singer and actor, Olanrewaju Fasasi, popularly known as Sound Sultan, succumbed to the cold hands of death after a fierce battle with cancer. When he was diagnosed earlier this year, rumours of it made rounds and many hoped for a miracle for him. However, according to the statement released by his family, he was diagnosed with Angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL), a rare form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma which sadly took his life.
On the 27th of November 1976, Olanrewaju was born to Mr Fasasi Liadi Alarape and Mrs. Fasasi Adeyinka Ajarat in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. The fourth child of his parents, he had his primary education at Stepping Stone Nursery and Primary school from 1981 to 1987 before proceeding to Federal Government College, Ogbomosho for his secondary education from 1988 to 1993. Sound Sultan graduated from the Lagos State University in 1999, where he studied Geography and Regional Planning.
While he might have graduated from the university in 1999, his interest in music started in 1991 with his brother, ‘Baba Dee’ who studied theatre arts being very influential in this regard. By 1999, Olanrewaju had won several local talent hunt shows before going ahead to release his debut single “Jagbajantis” in 2000. Following the success of this single, he signed for the Kennis Music record label and was there till his contract expired in 2007. He released four albums (Kpseeeeeeew in 2001, Textbook in 2004, Naija 007 in 2007 and SS4 in 2008) as part of this label and started his own record label called Naija Ninjas after that. Shawn, Young GreyC and Karma Da Rapper are some of the amazing talents that came out of his Naija Ninjas record label. Sound Sultan has seven beautiful albums to his name with his most recent album released in 2016.
Sound Sultan was an amazing singer, a beautiful songwriter and a phenomenal actor. He also teamed up with the Continental Basketball League’s organizers to become a team owner of the Lagos City Stars. He married his long-term sweetheart Chichi Morah, who is now known as Farida Fasasi. Olanrewaju Abdul-Ganiu Fasasi died on Sunday, 11th of July at the age of 44. He was buried amid tears in the United States. He is survived by his siblings, wife and three children.
