Ebo Taylor
A Ghanaian guitarist, arranger and bandleader who studied jazz in London beside Fela Kuti, built the highlife and afrobeat sound of Essiebons in the 1970s, and was rediscovered abroad in his seventies.
- Origin
- Cape Coast, Gold Coast (now Ghana)
- Years active
- 1936-2026
- Genres
- highlife, afrobeat, jazz, funk
- Labels
- Essiebons, Gapophone, Pan African Records, Strut, Mr Bongo, BBE, Jazz Is Dead
- Also known as
- Deroy Taylor
Cape Coast to London
Ebo Taylor was born Deroy Taylor in Cape Coast, then the Gold Coast, in 1936, of Fante heritage; MusicBrainz and a WEFUNK biography give the date as January 7, Wikipedia January 6. His father was a schoolteacher and church organist, and Taylor joined the church choir before he was 14, which he says sparked his interest in minor keys. Piano came first, and the guitar in his late teens or early twenties. In the late 1950s he played with the Stargazers and the Broadway Dance Band.
In 1961 or 1962 he moved to London to study at the Eric Gilder School of Music in Soho, sponsored by the Ghanaian education attache, and took the Black Star Highlife Band there in 1962. He worked with Fela Kuti, Teddy Osei and Sol Amarfio, the latter two later of Osibisa. Taylor told Time Out that Fela was his friend and used to ask why they were always playing jazz. He went back to Ghana in 1964 or 1965, depending on the source.
Essiebons and the 1970s
Back in Ghana he arranged and produced for Pat Thomas, C.K. Mann, Gyedu Blay Ambolley, Jewel Ackah and A.B. Crentsil, and was in-house guitarist, arranger and producer for the Essiebons label, founded by Dick Essilfie Bondzie. He led the Apagya Show Band in the mid-1970s and the Pelikans, and made My Love and Music for Gapophone in 1975 or 1976, in a pressing of 500. His self-titled Essiebons album of 1977, catalogue EBLS 6166, contains Heaven. Twer Nyame followed in 1978, Me Kra Tsie in 1979 and Conflict in 1980, with Uhuru Yenzu, the group he formed that year, and a lost 1980 session in Nigeria later became the 2019 BBE release Palaver. After 1984's Pat Thomas and Ebo Taylor he largely stopped recording and touring to arrange and produce.
Sources disagree on some of this period: Rhythm Passport says he spent the early 1980s in exile in Nigeria after Jerry Rawlings's coup, where he met Chief Tabansi of Tabansi Records.
Rediscovery
In 2008 he met the Berlin band Afrobeat Academy, including the saxophonist Ben Abarbanel-Wolff. Usher sampled Heaven on She Don't Know, with Ludacris, on Raymond v. Raymond, released in the US on March 30, 2010. Love and Death, on Strut on November 1, 2010, was his first internationally distributed album; Life Stories: Highlife and Afrobeat Classics 1973-1980 followed on April 8, 2011 and opens with Heaven, and Appia Kwa Bridge in April 2012. In August 2011 his first wife, Selina, died, and he wrote Barrima and recorded it in one take at Lovelite in Berlin that October.
Yen Ara came out on Mr Bongo on April 6, 2018, with the Saltpond City Band and two of his sons; he had a stroke in 2018 and could no longer play guitar but kept singing and composing. He made his first US appearances in 2022, aged 86, at the invitation of Jazz Is Dead, and his last studio record, Ebo Taylor JID022, produced by Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad, came out on January 31, 2025. He died in Saltpond on February 7, 2026, aged 90. Tributes came from Black Sherif, Rocky Dawuni and the Ghanaian presidency, which called him a cultural colossus. Black Eyed Peas, Kelly Rowland, Jidenna, Vic Mensa and Rapsody have also sampled his work, per Music in Africa.
Records
- Ebo Taylor 1977 · Essiebons (EBLS 6166)
The 1977 self-titled Essiebons album that holds Heaven.
- Conflict 1980 · Essiebons
Taylor's 1980 album with Uhuru Yenzu, which carries the original Love and Death.
- Love and Death 2010 · Strut (STRUT073CD)
His first internationally distributed album, recorded in Berlin with members of Afrobeat Academy.
Songs
- Heaven Ebo Taylor · 1977
The B-side highlife-afrobeat groove of his 1977 album that Usher sampled in 2010.
- Love and Death Conflict · 1980
The title song he wrote about his first wife, first cut with Uhuru Yenzu in 1980 and recorded again in Berlin in 2010.
Where to go next
Reference
- Ebo Taylor A broad career overview with the sample list.
Discography and data
- MusicBrainz: Ebo Taylor A dated discography with catalogue numbers.
Writing and criticism
- Rhythm Passport: In celebration of Ebo Taylor A career guide with album highlights.
- NPR via KPCW: how Ebo Taylor finally came to the US The 2026 career summary.
- Music in Africa: obituary Sampling list and tributes.
- PopMatters: Life Stories On Heaven and the 1970s recordings.
Interviews
- Afropop Worldwide interview Taylor on London, Fela and 1970s Ghana.
- Time Out Accra: interview Quotes on Fela and the 2010 album.
Live performance archives
- setlist.fm: Ebo Taylor 44 concerts from 2011 to 2025.
Fan sites and communities
- Derek's Music Blog: Conflict Personnel and track notes.
Sources
- Ebo Taylor, Wikipedia
- Ebo Taylor, part 1: highlife and afro-funk, Afropop Worldwide (2013-07-05)
- In celebration of Ebo Taylor, Rhythm Passport
- How Ebo Taylor finally came to the U.S., NPR via KPCW (2026-02-12)
- Ebo Taylor interview, Time Out Accra
- Ebo Taylor, Ghanaian highlife legend, dies at 90, Music in Africa
- Ebo Taylor: Life Stories, PopMatters (2011-04-20)
- Ebo Taylor: Conflict, Derek's Music Blog (2014-01-03)
- Ebo Taylor, Ebo Taylor (Bandcamp)