INFORMATION
| Artist Birtday : | 20/05/1947(Age 77) |
| Born In : | Takoradi |
| Occupation(s) : | singer and songwriter,producer |
| Genres : | hiplife,afrosongs,jazz |
Gyedu-Blay Ambolley is a Ghanaian highlife musician, songwriter, producer, and composer. The first musician from Ghana to formally incorporate rap forms into local highlife rhythms, Ambolley created the musical genre Simigwa.[5]
In June 2015 Ambolley received a citation in the USA from the City Council of Philadelphia,[6] read by Council woman ; Honorable Jannie Blackwell and Hon. Stanley J. Staughter in recognition of the musician’s contributions to Ghanaian music in the USA.
Gyedu-Blay Ambolley was rather unknown outside of West Africa until Soundway Records included his seminal Simigwa-Do, which Ambolley released in 1973, on their first anthology, Ghana Soundz.[7] Ambolley’s sound has led many to label him the godfather of hiplife, the fusion of the hip hop and highlife [2] idioms. Ambolley stood aside AL Threats at the Playboy Jazz Festival in Los Angeles. Ambolley, Sammy Lartey and Ebo Taylor are the few musicians who envisioned a future for high-life music in the late 60s and early 70s and helped transform the genre fusing high-life, funk and jazz[8][9] music.
