Dele Fadele
{{short description|English musician and music journalist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Dele Fadele
| image = Dele Fadele.webp
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = Ayodele Fadele
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1962|8|8|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Highbury, London, England
| death_date = {{death date and age|2018|3||1962|8|8|df=yes}}
| death_place = London, England
| nationality =
| other_names =
| occupation = Journalist
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
}}
Ayodele Fadele (8 August 1962 – March 2018) was an English musician and music journalist who was active from the mid-1980s.{{cite web|author-link=John Robb (musician)|last1=Robb|first1=John|url=https://louderthanwar.com/dele-fadele-music-journalist/|title=Dele Fadele – music journalist legend RIP|website=Louder Than War|date=20 August 2020|access-date=17 January 2021}} He wrote for the NME in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and was one of the first music critics to introduce then emerging US rap artists such as Public Enemy,{{cite web|last1=Fadele|first1=Dele|url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/public-enemy-the-enemy-without|title=Public Enemy: The Enemy Without|url-access=subscription|website=NME|date=16 May 1987}} De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest{{cite web|last1=Fadele|first1=Dele|url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/a-tribe-called-quest-why-are-you-being-so-treasonable-now|title=A Tribe Called Quest: Why Are You Being So Treasonable Now?|url-access=subscription|website=NME|date=15 December 1990}} to mainstream British music fans.{{cite web|last1=Jonze|first=Tim|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/sep/14/dele-fadele-remembered-nme|title='He was a groundbreaker and a visionary': music writer Dele Fadele remembered|website=The Guardian|date=14 September 2020|access-date=17 January 2021}}
Fadele had broad musical tastes, ranging from hip-hop and acid house to shoegazing, industrial and grunge.{{cite web|url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Writer/dele-fadele|title=Dele Fadele|website=Rock's Backpages|access-date=17 January 2021}} He wrote long pieces on artists including Nick Cave, New Order, 808 State,{{cite web|last1=Fadele|first1=Dele|url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/808-state-town-and-country-club-london|title=808 State: Town and Country Club, London|url-access=subscription|website=NME|date=6 March 1993}} Einstürzende Neubauten, Marianne Faithfull and Osibisa. He was gregarious and according to Andrew Collins was always "absolutely impassioned" when he arrived at the NME office each morning {{cite book|last1=Long|first1=Pat|title=The History of the NME: High times and low lives at the world's most famous music magazine|publisher=Portico|year=2012|isbn=978-1907554483}}
He died in March 2018 from stomach cancer. His death was not known to his former music industry colleagues until August 2020. Many of them wrote shocked but highly appreciative obituaries in the following days. Chuck D of Public Enemy said that Fadele was the "first black journalist from the UK that ever interviewed me", and that he "thought that was amazing. And it was for our first important spread in the UK music press too."
Early life
Ayodele Fadele was born in Highbury, London, on 8 August 1962 but raised in Ibadan, Nigeria, where his father practiced as an architect. He had three brothers and two sisters. He later studied civil engineering at Syracuse University in New York.
Career
In the 1990s, Fadele was a member of the electronic band Welfare Heroin.{{cite web|last1=Reilly|first1=Nick|url=https://www.nme.com/en_asia/news/music/tributes-paid-following-the-death-of-legendary-nme-writer-dele-fadele-2734394|title=Tributes paid following the death of legendary NME writer Dele Fadele|website=NME|date=21 August 2020|access-date=17 January 2021}} Fadele was always outspoken; Courtney Love described his damning review of Hole's 1991 gig at the Camden Underworld as "the worst" review she had ever received. In the article, Fadele described hearing the band as akin to "suddenly [feeling] a dark cloud descends and you're enveloped by gloom". He continued "Hole['s]...ability to depress in the name of entertainment is unrivalled."
In 1992, Fadele was the first critic to allege that Morrissey was adopting the imagery of right-wing politics and anti-immigration attitudes, when he said the singer was "fanning the flames of race-hate".{{cite web|last1=Fadele|first1=Dele|url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/morrissey-caucasian-rut|title=Morrissey: Caucasian Rut|url-access=subscription|website=NME|date=22 August 1992}} In the article, Fadele asked: "So, could the same writer harbour such seemingly ignorant thoughts as England for the English (his inverted commas) considering his beloved England's past colonial adventures?"{{cite web|author-link=David Stubbs|last1=Stubbs|first1=David|url=https://thequietus.com/articles/26748-morrissey-racism-fans-idiots|title=Why It's Time To Ditch Your Morrissey-Loving Friend|website=The Quietus|date=4 July 2019|access-date=17 January 2020}}
Neither Fadele nor NME were apparently ever forgiven by Morrissey – according to The Guardian, "When ... the paper's sole black writer Dele Fadele persuaded NME{{'}}s editors to publish a critical cover story about it, Morrissey refused to speak to the magazine for 12 years."{{cite web|last1=Jonze|first1=Tim|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/may/30/bigmouth-strikes-again-morrissey-songs-loneliness-shyness-misfits-far-right-party-tonight-show-jimmy-fallon|title=Bigmouth strikes again and again: why Morrissey fans feel so betrayed|website=The Guardian|date=30 May 2019|access-date=17 January 2020}}{{cite web|last1=Thomas-Mason|first1=Lee|url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/cornershop-set-fire-morrissey-posters-racism/|title=Remembering when Cornershop set fire to Morrissey posters, 1992|website=Far Out|date=17 May 2020|access-date=17 January 2020}}
Death
Fadele died after a short illness with stomach cancer in March 2018. He had been out of contact with fellow music journalists for a number of years, and his death was only noticed by the UK press in August 2020 when it was reported that he had died two years earlier. Former Melody Maker writer Simon Price was one of the first to hear, and on 21 August 2020 tweeted, "Word has been slowly breaking that Dele Fadele, the legendary NME writer, passed away two years ago."{{cite tweet|authorlink=Simon Price|last1=Price|first1=Simon|user=simon_price01|number=1296743525514608640|title=Word has been slowly breaking that Dele Fadele, the legendary NME writer, passed away two years ago. He was one of a few NME writers with whom I felt a kindred connection despite the rivalry. He always ripped the piss out of me, but affectionately, I thought. (1/4)|date=21 August 2020|accessdate=17 January 2021}} The news was met with widespread tributes and professional accolades.
Writing for The Quietus in an article published that day, John Doran said that Fadele was "one of those gloriously larger than life figures who instantaneously makes you realise that it is sometimes the music writers and photographers who live much wilder lives than the media-managed stars they document."{{cite web|last1=Doran|first1=John|url=https://thequietus.com/articles/28808-dele-fadele-rip|title=Music Journalist Dele Fadele Has Died|website=The Quietus|date=21 August 2020|access-date=17 January 2021}} Musician and writer John Robb wrote how Fadele's "deep love of music was hypnotic ... we would spend hours talking about noise rock, hip hop and afrobeat – he was incredibly clued up on a myriad of musical styles and was a completely switched on and inspiring presence."
Fellow NME journalist David Quantick said that he "Learned last night that Dele Fadele had died, some time ago. He was a brilliant friend, a lovely man and a fantastic writer. And he sneaked into a lot of record collections with {{sic|Welfare Heroine's|expected=The correct spelling of the band's name is Welfare Heroin; see previous section.}} cover of 'Where Do You Go To My Lovely'."{{cite tweet|authorlink=David Quantick|last1=Quantick|first1=David|user=quantick|number=1296705960178782208|title=Learned last night that Dele Fadele had died, some time ago. He was a brilliant friend, a lovely man and a fantastic writer. And he sneaked into a lot of record collections with Welfare Heroine's cover of Where Do You Go To My Lovely. I miss you, Dele.|date=21 August 2020|accessdate=17 January 2021}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://thequietus.com/users/17321 Dele Fadele article archive] at The Quietus
- [https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Writer/dele-fadele Dele Fadele article archive] at Rock's Backpages
- {{Discogs artist|2132617}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fadele, Dele}}
Category:English music journalists
Category:English people of Nigerian descent
Category:Black British musicians
Category:Black British journalists
Category:Deaths from stomach cancer in England