The rainmaker has gone to sleep!
African reggae legend, Majekodunmi Fasheke, popularly known as Majek Fashek has reportedly died in New York, yesterday, June 1st, 2020. His death was announced by artiste manager, Joy Tongo on Instagram today.
The 57 year-old had been battling with an undisclosed ailment for some time now. He arrived in the UK on September 7, 2019 and was admitted at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, London after his condition became critical. Billionaire businessman, Femi Otedola pledged to cover all the singer’s medical expenses.
Early this year, Omenka Uzoma, his manager confirmed that the singer had been discharged and was undergoing therapy in the U.S.
In 2015, Majek revealed he was bankrupt and battling drug addiction and was later admitted into a drug rehabilitation centre in Abuja.
He attracted international attention, in 1987, when his self-penned tune, “Send Down The Rain,” seemed to coax a rain storm that ended one of the worst draughts in Nigeria’ s history. He went on to become one of Africa’s greatest reggae-influenced performers. His debut solo album, Prisoner Of Conscience, released in 1988, sold more than 200,000 copies in Nigeria alone.
Born in Benin City to an Edo mother and a Ijesha father, but identifies with his Benin roots, Fashek inherited his love of music from his mother, an Edo woman who raised him following the death of his father when he was eleven years old.
Fashek was married to Rita Fashek who inspired the song “Without You”; the couple had four children together, but have since divorced.
May his soul rest in peace.