Pax Nicholas & The Nettey Family Na Teef Know De Road Of Teef

Nicholas Addo-Nettey was born in Accra, Ghana on August 7th, 1954. In the 60’s, the Ghanaian youth were crazy about American soul music, and Nicholas was no exception to the rule. James Brown and Otis Redding were his idols and by the age of 18 he started to perform himself. Shortly after, fellow musician Joe King Kologbo invited him to the Mecca of African funk music: Lagos, Nigeria. Nicholas was not only talented but also lucky. Kologbo introduced him to Fela Anikulapo Kuti, the undisputed Godfather of Afrobeat. He was able to convince the master of his skills as a drummer and singer and in 1971 became a full member of Fela's legendary band Africa 70 as a conga player and background singer.

The 1st record he appeared on was Lady Shakara – an international smash hit and one of Fela's greatest. Nicholas was at the right place at the right time. In the 70s, stars like James Brown, B.B. King, Ginger Baker, Stevie Wonder and Manu Dibango came to Lagos to visit Fela’s Shrine club to hear this new and incredibly heavy thing called Afrobeat.

While playing and recording for Felas 's Africa 70 (Nicholas appeared on all Fela’s releases between 1971 and 1978), Mr. Addo-Nettey always had his own thing going on the side. He released two solo LPs for the Tabansi Label with the Martin Brothers Band from Portharcort, Nigeria: “Mind Your Own Business” in 1971 and “Na Teef Know The Road of Teef” in 1973. The second one is a heavy afro-funk, that was recorded with Africa 70 musicians and singers in Ginger Baker's highly equipped Lagos studio, where many of Fela's albums were recorded as well. Obviously, Fela was not amused at all about these kinds of things, even less when he heard how strong the “Na Teef…” album was. He reportedly said: “Don’t you ever, EVER play it again!” And so it was. Despite being a killer record, “Na Teef…” remained undercover for more than 30 years.