Olaolu Akintobi, popularly known as Laolu Akins (born November 1946) is a Nigerian music producer. He has worked with artists such as Shina Peters,

Onyeka Onwenu Onyeka Onwenu (31 January 1952 – 30 July 2024) was a Nigerian singer-songwriter, actress, human rights and social activist, journalist, politician, and ''X Factor'' series judge. Dubbed the "Elegant Stallion" due to her significant impact on ...

, Adewale Ayuba, Mike Okri and Christy Essien-Igbokwe. He has produced Shina Peters albums ''Ace'' (1989), ''Shinamania'' (1990), ''Dancing Time'' (1991), and ''Experience'' (1992), and Adewale Ayuba's ''Bubble'' (1991), ''Play For Me'' (1992), and several other albums. He was supervising producer for the maiden recording of

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

duo

P-Square P-Square are a Nigerian music duo composed of the twin brothers Mr. P (singer), Peter Okoye and Rudeboy (singer), Paul Okoye, who co-write and co-produce most of their songs. Noted for their artistic reinvention, musical versatility, and Visual a ...

, titled "Where Were You Last Night".

Biography

Early career

Laolu Akins learned to play

the drums The Drums is an American indie pop band/project from New York City. It was initially formed by Jonathan Pierce and Jacob Graham as Goat Explosion, and later added Adam Kessler and Connor Hanwick. Graham exited the band in 2016. Since then, ...

at a

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

City Youth Sports & Social Centre, financed by the then Federal Ministry Of Youth and Sports in

Yaba, Lagos Yaba is a suburb located on Lagos Mainland, Lagos in Lagos State, Nigeria. With its educational institutions and technological start-ups, Yaba is considered the technological hub of Lagos. Inaugurated in 2021, the ultra-modern Mobolaji Johnson C ...

. Later, he played regularly with friends from high school, in groups like Oscars, Clusters, the Akinrele Brothers, and Seinde Sapara Ade Jolaoso before teaming with Berkley "Ike" Jones and Mike "Gbenga" Odumosu. The trio were influenced by British and American rock groups and soul music, and soon combined with the Lijadu Sisters to start a group called Afro-Collection, with Tee Mac Iseli. When

Ginger Baker Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker (19 August 1939 – 6 October 2019) was an English drummer. His work in the 1960s and 1970s earned him the reputation of "rock's first superstar drummer", for a style that melded jazz and Music of Africa, Africa ...

moved to Nigeria in 1971, he organized a band called Salt, with Laolu Akins as drummer. Salt played in

clubs, and later toured Europe and America with Ginger Baker.

Blo

Upon their return, Laolu co-founded a group called Blo (standing for 'Berkeley, Laolu & Odumosu'). The band recorded

afro-rock Afro rock is a Rock music, rock music genre that fuses Western rock instrumentation with traditional African musical elements, which emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Influences Afro rock draws heavily from traditional African music styl ...

songs such as "Preacher Man" and "Native Doctor". Blo recorded their first album, ''Chapter One'', a

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

record under the

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

label. Sales of the album did not meet EMI's expectations, and the band eventually left EMI to record their next album with

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, record label * Decca Gold, classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, musical theater record label * Decca Studios, recording facility in West ...

on their Afrodisia label. Between 1974 and 1976 the band released three more records, ''Phase II'', ''Step Three'' and ''Phase IV''. Odumosu left to join OsibiIn after their recording of the ''Phase II'' album. In the summer of 1976, Blo moved to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

under the management of Cliff Cooper and Velvet Music, and was based there till late 1982 when they returned to Nigeria. On return to Nigeria, Blo, now with Lemmy Out Jackson as the new 'O' of BLO, recorded "Back In Time" as a

maxi single A maxi single, maxi-single, or maxi CD (sometimes abbreviated to MCD or CDM) is a music single release with more than the usual two tracks of an A-side song and a B-side song. Maxi singles are often mistaken for extended plays (EPs), especial ...

. After disappointing sales, Akins travelled to England and learned music production at the Orange Production Centre.

Later life

Akins founded BLO Productions, to produce records for a number of successful artists such as Christy Essien Igbokwe, Kris Okotie and Onyeka Onwenu. Between 1989 and 1998, Akins worked as an A&R controller with

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

. He owns a music studio in

Ikeja Ikeja is the List of capitals of states of Nigeria, capital city of Lagos State in southwestern Nigeria. Its population, as of the 2006 census, is 313,196. Prior to the emergence of military rule in the early 1980s, Ikeja was a well planned, cl ...

with the name G & A Studio, which he now uses to mentor upcoming artists and train young producers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Akins, Laolu Nigerian record producers 1946 births Living people