Thirty-five years after his death, legendary artiste Harcourt Whyte is to be honoured this Friday (June 7) in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, with a thrilling event tagged “An Evening with Harcourt Whyte.”

The evening of songs scheduled to hold at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers from 6:00pm is the first in a series of activities planned by the Harcourt Whyte Foundation to immortalise the iconic composer.

Speaking on behalf of the Foundation, an upbeat Mrs. Ezinwa N. Okoroafor said: “We are very happy to be doing this because Ikoli Harcourt Whyte was a renowned gospel singer, who through soul-touching sacred hymns, inspired many throughout former Eastern Nigeria in the 1960s and early 1970s.”

Born in Abonema in Rivers State in 1905, Harcourt Whyte spent the greater part of his life at Uzuakoli Leprosy Colony in the present Abia State of Nigeria, where he raised a choir that regularly performed his compositions at the Methodist Church Lohum, Uzuakoli.

Before his death in 1977, Harcourt Whyte composed over 300 sacred hymns used in Methodist Church of Nigeria in the then Eastern Nigeria and beyond. Over time, these sacred songs spread and became very popular that it could no longer be compartmentalised or classified as Methodist Church songs as they were widely used in Christian worships across different Christian denominations. 

•Photo shows one of Harcourt Whyte’s album sleeves.