Sir Shina Peters Clocks 62 as Family Members Mourn His Late Dancer

Monilola Ajeniya/

Friends and family members of Juju Music superstar, Sir Shina Peters, marked his 62nd birthday today with mixed feelings following the death of his famous dancer, Lady Tessy Yembra, three days earlier.

Mourning Yembra who reportedly created Afro-Juju (Ijo Shina) dance for Sir Shina Peters, the musician’s wife, Sammie stated on her Facebook page yesterday: “Tessy I can’t believe you are gone. Always happy. No dull moment. The 1st person to always come a day b4 my birthday. Ore mii! You don’t know how to keep malice. Always happy to celebrate with others. A true friend. Rest on till we meet to path no more my gentle friend.”

Yembra also took the credit for the late Ayinde Barrister’s Fuji Garbage dance.

Born Oluwashina Akanbi Peters in Ogun State on May 30, 1958, Peters’ career in music began at a young age when he played with friends on the band known as Olushina and His Twelve Fantastic Brothers, says his Wikipedia page. 

While playing with his friends, he taught himself how to play the piano and later joined Ebenezer Obey‘s band. Thereafter, he left Obey’s band and joined General Prince Adekunle‘s band as a guitar player. Adekunle’s band played in Lagos hotels such as Western Hotel, Palm Beach Hotel and Executive Hotel. When Adekunle was ill, Peters sometimes acted as lead singer.

He left Prince Adekunle to form Shina Adewale, a band with another Juju Maestro, Segun Adewale, but the union didn’t last long.

After releasing many albums with Segun Adewale through the 1980s, Peters moved on to form his own band, “Sir Shina Peters & His International Stars”.

Peters was an actor in ‘Money Power’, a movie produced by Ola Balogun. He met and started a relationship with the actress Clarion Chukwura at this time. The relationship produced a son, Clarence Peters.

Career Breakthrough:

Sir Shina Peters & His International Stars released their first album Ace (Afro-Juju Series 1) in 1989. The album, which was released under CBS Records of Nigeria, went double platinum. “Ace,” produced by Laolu Akins, is a musical fusion between Juju and Afrobeat. Afro juju musical style mixes fast percussive beat with the use of electronic keyboards, saxophone and guitar. Some of the lyrics in the album especially in ‘Ijo Shina’ were quite racy for the period. The album went on to garner awards for Peters including the artist and album of the Year at the Nigerian Musical Awards.

He followed ‘Ace’ with ‘Shinamania’; the album had singles such as ‘Oluwa Yo Pese’, ‘Omo Nbo’ and ‘Give Our Women Chance’. Sir Shina Peters currently has 16 albums to his credit.