12 Things You Didn’t Know About Majek Fashek
Majekodunmi Fasheke aka Fashek Majek was an icon whose inspiration came from God our Lord and the impact of music ministration cut across all ages around the world.
After a long battle with illness, Nigerian music legend and reggae king popularly called Majek Fashek finally gave up the ghost to be with his maker at the age of 57.
Majek Fashek was born on March 7, 1963, in Benin City to an Edo mother and a Yoruba father but identifies with his Benin root.
Fashek was married to Rita Fashek who inspired the song Without You; the couple had four children but has since divorced.
Here are few things to know about Majek the Rainmaker:
1. Majek Fashek various translations of his name Fasheke (Ifa-Kii-she-eke) include “high priest who does not lie”, “powers of miracles” and “(system or medium of) divination does not lie”.
2. After Majek’s parents separated, Fashek remained in Benin City with his mother and joined the choir in his local Aladura Church and learned to play the trumpet and guitar whilst composing songs for the choir.
3. In the early eighties Fashek, who at the time went by the stage name Rajesh Kanal, joined the group Jastix with McRoy Gregg, and was lead singer for Black Rice. They were best known as the in-house band on the show Music Panorama on NTA Benin City.
5. In 1989, he won six PMAN awards, which included Song of the Year, Album of the Year, and Reggae Artist of the Year.
6. After leaving Tabansi Records, he was signed to CBS Nigeria in the early 1990s and released So Long Too Long. In 1990 he was signed to Interscope Records and released the critically acclaimed album Spirit Of Love, produced by “Little Steven” Van Zandt.
7. Fashek played a supporting role in the 2000 Nollywood movie Mark of the Beast and starred in a commercial for non-alcoholic beverage Diamant.
8. In 2016, he performed in a comedy show (with more than ten thousand audiences in attendance) in Lagos, Nigeria, with a roundly power-filled and soul-lifting performance.
9. In December 2016 Fashek contributed the song “We Are Not Afraid” to a video featuring 200 celebrities to raise funds for the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Human Rights Watch (HRW).
10. During the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians, he was unhappy about the Nigeria-South Africa crisis. He recalled that he did a song Free Mandela and it helped back then.
11. He was a lovely brother whose life of giving was phenomenal and exemplary during his earning years. Although he was mistaken for a spendthrift and was taken advantage of by many close to him.
12. During his travail with drug addictions and hard times, many left him and he went through so much hardship, and soon after, bounced back to release a new track inspired by the Holy Spirit, titled, “Holy Spirit”
