Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

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COQUE, Oliver de

(b Oliver Sunday Akanite, Nigeria) Guitar, singer-composer. He emerged in the mid-1970s with a unique brand of Ibo highlife known as the Ogene sound; his guitar lead established the Expo '76 Ogene Super Sounds with hits on the Olumo label including Ogene Super Sounds '76, Oje Mba Ewilo '77, I Salute Africa and Jomo Kenyatta '79, Identity '80, Udoka Social Club '81, Chief Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu '82 (welcoming Chief back to Nigeria from exile in Ivory Coast). A colourful character known to fans as Oliver de Coke or Oliver de Fanta. He established his own Ogene label '82, released five more hit LPs including Ekueme Youth Club '82, Anyi Cholu '83, Ogene King Of Africa '84. One of the top highlife acts, kept up a hectic schedule playing for and praising social clubs in Eastern Nigeria.