Teddy Osei, a founding member of London based African band Osibisa, has died in London at the age of 88.
Teddy was born in 1938 in the Ashanti region of Ghana (then called Gold Coast). In 1969 he formed Osibisa with Sol Amarfio and Mac Tontoh. They chose the name Osibisa after the word ‘osobisaaba’, a style of fisherman’s music in Africa.
Osibisa received global recognition. Their debut album ‘Osibisa’ (1971) reached no 11 in the UK, no 13 in Australia and no 55 in the USA. The second album ‘Woyaya’ (1971) reached no 15 in Australia. ‘Heads’ (1972) reached 19 in Australia and subsequent albums ‘Happy Children’ (1973), ‘Osibirock’ (1974) and ‘Welcome Home’ (1975) also made the Australian album chart.
Osibisa were regular visitors to Australia in the 70s and 80s. The band also shared artist Roger Dean with Yes. Roger did the artwork for the covers of the first three Osibisa albums and worked with Osibisa before the did his first Yes artwork for ‘Fragile’ (1971).
Teddy Osei was lead singer and played saxophone, flute and percussion. He was with the band through to his death in London on 14 January 2025.
Osibisa’s Sol Amarfia died in 2022. Abdul Amao died in 1988 and Spartacus R. died in 2010.
The statement from Osibisa:
R.I.P. Francis ‘Teddy’ Osei
A short history of Teddy and his band Osibisa.
Ghanaian musician and saxophonist, Teddy Osei, one of the founding members of Afro-rock band Osibisa, has passed away.
The legendary musician passed away iJanuary 14, 2025 in North London.
He was 88 years old.Teddy Osei was born December 1937 and is best known as the leader of the Afro-rock band Osibisa which he founded in London, England in 1969.
Born in Kumasi, Osei was introduced to musical instruments as a child.
He began to play the saxophone while attempting to create a band with his college friends in the coastal city of Sekondi.
After graduating from college, he worked as a building inspector for a year before creating a band called ‘The Comets’.
The Comets enjoyed a spate of popularity in West Africa before Osei departed for London in 1962.
While at college, he attempted to put together a band along his brother and some of his friends.According to Osei, he only began to play the saxophone because the person who had volunteered for that instrument did not attend the practices. He continued to teach himself the saxophone and flute by listening to records of jazz musicians and playing along with the music.
After beginning work as an inspector, he created a semi-professional band along with his brother and some friends. The band became known as the Comets, and became highly successful in Ghana, recording with Philips West Africa and playing for a radio show. Their music was inspired by ‘Highlife’, a genre derived from a fusion of European and African influences and an influence that stayed with Teddy for the rest of his life.
In 1962 Osei travelled to London, leaving the Comets behind.
Having spent much of his money on travel, he lived with friends in London, working as a dish-washer for a year. He applied for and received a grant from the Ghanaian government, which allowed him to attend a private music and drama school for three years.
However, his grant was terminated after Francis Kwame Nkrumah was deposed from power in 1966.
Osei then teamed up with several other students in London who had also lost their positions and began to play soul and highlife music at various venues across Europe.
This group of musicians acquired a following in Switzerland and other territories and with Teddy at the helm named themselves ‘Cat’s Paw’.
At this stage the bands members included Sol Amarfio and Osei’s brother Mac Tontoh, both were of course, future members of Osibisa.
The group eventually returned to the UK, looking for more gigs to help secure a more stable financial situation.
The chance meetings of three London based Caribbean expatriate musicians, one Nigerian and the three London based Ghanians enabled Osei to found the band that became known as Osibisa, aka The Beautiful Seven.
The band hit the jackpot in 1971 after signing with MCA and recording a self titled debut release that charted in short order and subsequently achieved gold status in a very short time period.
The follow up album ‘Woyaya’ along with singles such as ‘Music For Gong Gong’ also achieved impressive chart positions.Those early albums and singles were produced by a young Tony Visconti and the iconic album artwork was generated by a then largely unknown artist called Roger Dean working from ideas Teddy had dreamt about.
The band remained hugely popular through most of the 1970s and had several high profile album and singles releases, ‘Sunshine Day’ released in 1975 cementing the bands position and delivering their most enduring single to this day. Other hits followed such as ‘The Coffee Song’, ‘Dance The Body Music’, ‘Pata Pata’ & ‘Celebration’ to name a few.
Although the band experienced numerous personal changes both in the 70’s, 80’s and on into the 90’s they continued to record and tour with Teddy at the helm and supported by his Ghanian brothers.
After a short hiatus in the early nineties whilst various band members did their own thing and some starting families Osei continued to write and soon enough had the band up and running again.Touring and recording had recommenced by 1994 with Teddy working with a new producer and a new studio album called ‘Monsore’ was ready to roll by 1995.
Teddy continued to work on the remastering of back catalogue for the CD age, recording new material and touring fairly consistently until he suffered a stroke in his seventies.
Not deterred Osei carried on fronting the band and working his choice of younger talent in and along with returning elder and founding members so that the band, his invention and dream continued with him in place as its recording and spiritual leader.
When he could no longer work the longer tours he still continued to record and the band continued performing under his spiritual guidance and chosen team as it does so today.
R.I.P. Boss.
By Robert M Corich
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