TUNDE BAIYEWU OF THE LIGHTHOUSE FAMILY

Tunde Baiyewu (born Babatunde Emanuel Baiyewu) is a British Pop singer of Nigerian descent and is a member of the easy listening duo, Lighthouse Family. In 2004 he embarked on a solo career, releasing the album Tunde, and in 2013 released his second album, Diamond in a Rock.

HIS EARLY LIFE

Tunde Baiyewu was born on the 25th of November, 1968 (once again I give you another great November born, damn! we are awesome) in Willesden Green, North-West London, but was taken to Nigeria when he was four by his mum, after the death of his father. He talks about the disorientation of the move and his extraordinary stepfather. His mother went on to marry former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo who, like both her and Baiyewu himself, is of the Yoruba ethnic group.

Was he afraid of him? “No, no. He may have been strict, but he was charming too, and charismatic. He also accepted me as one of his own.”

The family setup was an unusual one for Western sensibilities perhaps, but, Tunde Baiyewu suggests, not so at home. Obasanjo, like all husbands with multiple wives, had one main wife who lived with him. The others, Tunde’s mother among them, he would see intermittently, perhaps once a month.

Tunde Baiyewu said,

There was a lot of competition between the wives, a lot of rivalry. And the wives behaved with discretion – no press profiles, no attendant VIP lifestyle – so much so that Tunde’s life didn’t really change at all after the marriage. He didn’t even tell his friends at school. So when Obasanjo turned up to visit me from time to time, bringing with him all these security men… well, it was awkward.

In the late 1980s, Tunde moved back to the UK to study accountancy in the University of Northumbria in Newcastle upon Tyne. He wasn’t much taken with the course, but it earned him an important commodity – his parents’ pride. It was here that he met the musician Paul Tucker (was also working in the same bar with him), with whom he formed the Lighthouse Family. Success came quickly, and it was just as the band reached their commercial peak that his stepfather was thrown into prison.

HIS CAREER

In 2005, Tunde Baiyewu appeared on the BBC Television one-off special, Strictly African Dancing. He came last, but he learned the Bata dance in the process.

On 12 November 2006, Baiyewu appeared in an ITV documentary called Faith in Music. This documentary charted his life and music, from his roots in Africa, through Lighthouse Family and into his current solo incarnation. It also showed him performing an acoustic set featuring tracks from his latest album.

In January 2007, Tunde Baiyewu held his first tour in over four years (the last time being with Lighthouse Family). He did four concerts from 13 to 16 January 2007 in Edinburgh, Manchester, Wolverhampton and London respectively. He combined his solo material with Lighthouse Family hits and dedicated each and every song to his nephew Funto.

Tunde Baiyewu released his second solo album, Diamond In A Rock, in the UK on 4 March 2013.

THE ALBUM, ‘Diamond In A Rock’

In 2013 Baiyewu announced plans for a second solo album entitled Diamond In A Rock and first single from the album “Move” – both released on 4 March 2013. In addition, he released a promotional EP, The Live Sessions, featuring live recordings of “Move”, “High” and “Letting Me Down Gently”.

Tunde’s second single from the album Diamond In A Rock is the title track “Diamond In A Rock” and was released mid-April 2013 on iTunes. The single was released as an EP including the single track “Diamond In A Rock” (Radio Edit) and three previously unreleased tracks: “Home”, “Tomorrow’s News” and “Speaking Voice”.
In October 2013 he joined M People as their support act during their “20th Anniversary Greatest Hits Tour”.

HIS PERSONAL LIFE

Tunde Baiyewu is an alumnus of Northumbria University, having completed an Accountancy degree in 1994.
In March 2007, Baiyewu married Tope Adeshina, a young Nigerian model, in Lagos, Nigeria. They live in the North London, UK. They have two daughters, aged four and two, and they regularly return to Lagos.

Tunde Baiyewu is a sweet, talkative, gentle man. He clearly isn’t now, and never was, a polemicist, a protest singer. It never occurred to him, he says, to write songs about his family’s situation or take a public stand.

I was never much of a rebel, to be honest. I was always more spiritual.

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