By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
Legendary singer and guitarist, Sir Victor Uwaifo, is dead.
The Edo State-born music maestro died on Saturday, aged 80.
It is not yet clear the cause of death but a family source said he died after a brief illness.
The ‘Guitar Boy’ as he was fondly called celebrated his 80th birthday in March.
Uwaifo, a Professor, was intellectually sound both in mind and body.
He was reputed as the most educated performing music icon in the world and the most read music superstar.
He had his National Diploma (Graphics},Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, 1963, BA Hons (First Class), 1995, Masters degree (MFA) Sculpture, 1997, Ph.D (Visual Arts), University of Benin, Nigeria
He spent over 50 years on stage.
Professor Uwaifo was a music maestro, sculptor, philosopher, poet and musical instrument inventor.
His “Joromi” hit song released in 1965, won for Nigeria the first Gold Disc Record ever to come out of the continent of Africa in a competitive world.
Victor Uwaifo was the first Benin man to receive the Nigerian National Honours; Member of the Order of the Niger (MON) in 1983, for his contributions to creativity and industry.
He was appointed and sworn-in as Justice of the Peace (JP) 1990.
As a Commissioner in Edo State, he was also the first Commissioner for Arts, Culture and Tourism in Nigeria.
He was also a lecturer in the Department of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Benin.
He was honoured with an award in 2018 by the Association of Nigerian Musicologists for his outstanding music performance and leadership.
He was the Silverbird Man of the Year 2015 and honourary Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters, the highest literary academic body in Nigeria.
He had over 600 songs and 100 records to his credit with eight gold and two silver awards.
Each record was music of serious research and philosophical work equivalent to academic journal.
He was a member of the Performing Rights Society of London (PRS), a trustee of Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN) and Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON).
In 2016, Victor Uwaifo was inducted into the Grammy Award Museum in Los Angelis, USA.
He inspired generations of musicians in Nigeria and beyond.
