Majek Fashek

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Majekodunmi Fasheke (March 1963 - 1 June 2020), billed Majek Fashek and known as the Rainmaker, came up in Jastix, the Benin City reggae band he shared with Ras Kimono, Amos McRoy Jegg and Black Rice Osagie, before going solo at the end of the 1980s. Prisoner of Conscience appeared on Tabansi in 1988 and its single "Send Down the Rain" took six PMAN awards and made him Nigeria's biggest reggae act; I&I Experience followed in 1989 carrying the anti-apartheid "Free Africa, Free Mandela". He moved to CBS Nigeria for So Long Too Long and then signed to Interscope, releasing Spirit of Love in 1991 produced by Little Steven Van Zandt — a rare instance of a Nigerian reggae artist being taken up by an American major on his own terms. His later years were difficult and publicly so. He died on 1 June 2020, aged 57. His birth is recorded as March 1963 without a day in the sources reachable here, so the archive gives the month only.