Orlando Julius

Later life and legacy

In 2019 or 2020, Julius moved to Ijebu-Jesa with his wife, Latoya Ekemode. The Elegboro of Ijebu-Jesa, Oba (Engr.) Moses Oluwafemi Agunsoye, gave him an honorary title, "Gbeluniyi" and considered him an " chief". On 15 April 2022, Latoya reported that Julius died in his sleep, at the age of 78. The day of his death, the Elegboro praised Julius as "a very good ambassador of Ijebu-Jesa town, Oriade as a local government, and Nigeria as a whole". Before his death, Lopa Kothari of BBC Radio called him a "legend" and Robin Denselow, writing for The Guardian, described him as "one of the heroes of Nigerian music", a "master of the simple, stomping riff" with a significant influence on afrobeat music. Modern Ghana considered him "the last of Nigeria's titans in the highlife music genre". According to AllMusic, "few artists have been more crucial to the invention, development, and popularization of Afro-pop".