It is no longer news that Nigerian highlife legend, Victor Olaiya is dead.
The revered music icon passed on today 12th of February 2020.

Olaiya was born on 31 December 1930, in Calabar, Cross River State, the 20th child of a family of 24. His parents, Alfred Omolona Olaiya and Bathsheba Owolabi Motajo, came from Ijesha-Ishu in Ekiti State.
Olaiya came from a very rich family. His father's house called Ilọijọs Bar stood on 2 Bamgbose Street, Lagos Island, until it was demolished on 11 September 2016.

At an early age he learned to play the Bombardon and the French Horn.
In 1954 Olaiya formed his own band, the Cool Cats, playing popular highlife music. His band was chosen to play at the state ball when Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom visited Nigeria in 1956, and later to play at the state balls when Nigeria became independent in 1960 and when Nigeria became a republic in 1963. On the latter occasion, Olaiya shared the stage with the American jazz musician Louis Armstrong. During the Nigerian Civil War of 1967–70, Olaiya was given the rank of a lieutenant colonel (honorary) in the Nigerian army and his band played for the troops at various locations. The Cool Cats later travelled to the Congo to perform for United Nations troops.
Olaiya performed at Nigeria’s Independence ball in 1960.


He said in an interview: “I wish I can remember all those that were present but I know that Tafawa Balewa was present, then Nnamdi Azikwe was present, and the last Governor General representing the queen, Sir James Robertson was very much present . My band played at that state ball not only at the state ball but also three years after when Nigeria was attaining the republican status, my band also played .All the ministers available at that time were present”.

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https://www.thenewsguru.com/entertainment/article/need-know-late-highlife-legend-victor-olaiya/