Spartacus R

British-Grenadian bass guitarist, percussionist, vocalist, songwriter, producer, and author. Born: 3 September 1948 in Aruba, Grenada, West Indies. Died: 30 July 2010 (after a battle with cancer) at Kings College Hospital, London, England, UK (aged 61). After moving to London with his family at the age of 12 in 1960, he began his career as a founding member of Osibisa, playing bass guitar, percussion and singing, as well as co-writing, many of the tracks on the groups first three albums. On leaving the group, he founded the label Zara Music Records, where he went on to have a solo career. He also did much work, often uncredited for other recording artists. A complex and unforgettable person, Spartacus was often quite outspoken, as he constantly strived to make a contribution via music, spoken word, politics, philosophical writing, debate, and physical action. Later on, to these aims, he published several books and his entrepreneurial spirit led to him becoming editor of "Global Africa Pocket News" (GAP News) a pocket-sized pan-global african news magazine, along with being co-founder of "GAP Radio" and "www.globalafrica.com" – the online african self help network.