ACCRA June 9 - Kiki Gyan, a member of the Ghanaian afro-beat supergroup Osibisa and once known as the world's eighth greatest keyboard player, has died at the age of 47 after a long battle with drug addiction, his former bandmate said Tuesday.
Mac Tontoh said that Gyan died late Sunday at home from illness associated with his drug abuse. Funeral arrangements were to be announced later, a family member said.
Barely 16 years old when he joined Osibisa, Gyan was among the most talented keyboard players ever to break out of Africa onto the international music scene.
Osibisa, whose members are considered the godfathers of world music, was a perfect vehicle for Gyan's lush arrangements, which served up a hint of what was to come on the emerging disco scene.
Osibisa, which can be translated to mean ``criss-cross rhythms that explode with happiness'', created a unique fusion of African, Caribbean, rock, jazz, Latin and Rhythm and Blues with albums such as ``Woyaya,'' ``Black Magic Night'' and ``Monsore''.
Their constant touring, exposing their infectious poly-rhythms and percussive breaks, paved the way for other potent music forces such as Bob Marley and Ali Farka Toure to break out internationally in the 1980s.
Highly energetic stage shows featuring kinetic dancers and impossibly vibrant costumes made them favored performers at festivals around the globe, including Britain's legendary Cropready Folk Festival and the 1977 FESTAC in Nigeria that attracted the likes of Marvin Gaye, Peter Tosh and Stevie Wonder.
``We could sing to a crowd of about 200,000 people and you would see some going naked, others going crazy and some even die,'' Gyan was famously quoted to have said.
But the fast life proved too much for Gyan, who became addicted to drugs, spending his millions faster than he could earn them. He married the eldest daughter of Nigerian music legend Fela Kuti, but they divorced quickly.
Remarried to a Ghanaian woman, he fathered a daughter who currently lives in the United States.
He quit Osibisa in the 1980s and moved to Nigeria, hoping to start anew. Penniless and in the throes of intense drug addiction, he returned to Ghana where friends, community members and other musicians have tried to help him kick the habit.
South Africa's legendary Hugh Masekela even paid to send Gyan for drug treatment in South Africa, but to no avail.
``He has gone down with such great talent,'' Tontoh told AFP on Tuesday, recounting a tearful deathbed apology from Gyan to his gathered friends and family for having let them down.
``His death, though unfortunate, should be a lesson to all of those about to get into drugs, or who are on drugs.'' - AFP
