There are moments when time slows for even the loudest legends. When Sir Shina Peters sat down recently to talk about his life, his voice carried a softness that didn’t need any music behind it. He wasn’t the man with the guitar or the glittering stage suit this time. He was a storyteller remembering a boy who became a man long before he should have.
For years, Nigerians knew him as the unstoppable force of Afro-Juju. His songs filled wedding halls, radio stations, and street parties from Lagos to London. But in this viral interview, released in October 2025, Shina Peters didn’t speak about fame or rhythm. He spoke about survival, family, and the kind of youth that disappears when life rushes you into adulthood.
The boy who started too early
Oluwashina Akanbi Peters, better known as Sir Shina Peters began performing professionally at just ten years old. He recalled this during the latest episode of the Honest Bunch podcast, smiling faintly as if still surprised by his own childhood. Music was already in his blood, and he learned quickly how to command attention.
By his early teens, he was already performing alongside some of Nigeria’s biggest bandleaders. He first played with friends under the handle Olushina and His Twelve Fantastic Brothers. While playing with his friends, he taught himself how to play the piano and later joined Ebenezer Obey’s band. Thereafter, he left Obey’s band and joined General Prince Adekunle’s group as a young guitarist and was soon known for his infectious energy. Later, he teamed up with Segun Adewale to form the group Shina Adewale, which became a foundation for what the world would later call Afro-Juju.
Not long after, the duo soon split. Shina Peters, after releasing many albums with Segun Adewale through the 1980s, went on to form his own band, “Sir Shina Peters & His International Stars”.
Peters was an actor in ‘Money Power’, a movie produced by Ola Balogun. That was where he met and started a relationship with actress Clarion Chukwura. Their union produced a son, Clarence Peters.
Speaking further, Shina Peters revealed that at age thirteen, he bought his first car. At fourteen, he became a father. And by sixteen, he had built a house.
For many, these claims sounded unbelievable, but for those who lived through Nigeria’s late seventies music scene, it made sense. The era rewarded raw talent fast, and a gifted boy could rise as quickly as he could fall.
The cost of growing up too fast & the sound that changed it all
It is one thing to have fame early, but it is another to live with the pressure of it. Judging by his words, Shina Peters never really had time to be a child. The same success that put food on the table also stole his innocence.
When Shina Peters finally broke through in the late eighties, he did it on his own terms. His Afro-Jujusound took over Nigeria. It was faster than traditional Juju, wilder than Fuji, and smoother than highlife.
His 1989 album Ace (Afro-Juju Series 1) changed the industry forever. It was his first album. Songs like Ijo Shina and Afro Juju didn’t just make people dance, they made him a national treasure. The follow-up album Shinamania sealed his crown. For almost a decade, you couldn’t have a party without his voice.
But fame came with excess. He lived fast, surrounded by wealth, women, and endless travel. In those years, he was Nigeria’s symbol of modern music success.
Family, Fame and the Bonds That Survive It All
Sir Shina Peters’ personal life has always sparked curiosity almost as much as his music. Behind the energetic stage performer is a man who has lived through fame, fatherhood and a long marriage that has tested and refined him in ways only time could explain.
The Juju icon has a son many Nigerians know well, Clarence Abiodun Peters. He is a creative force in his own right and one of the country’s most respected music video directors. Clarence was born in December 1983 to Shina Peters and Nollywood actress Clarion Chukwurah. Their relationship did not last, but what it produced became one of the most talented filmmakers in modern Nigerian music.
Clarion raised Clarence as a single mother and has openly shared that Shina was not an active part of their son’s early years. It was a difficult separation, but one that both parties have grown beyond. In later interviews, Shina spoke warmly about Clarence, calling him a source of pride and a reflection of his own artistic DNA. Clarence himself has never spoken publicly against his father, maintaining a quiet respect that many fans find admirable.
Years after his relationship with Clarion ended, Shina met Sammie Peters. It was 1981 and the two lived in the same Lagos neighbourhood. Sammie has often said she was drawn to his charm and ambition long before fame found him. They had their traditional marriage in 1982, and by 1995 they were officially wed in church. Those years in between were not easy. Shina was still building his name and touring heavily. She once said the early years taught her patience, because loving a musician meant learning to live with his absence.
Shina himself once confessed that fame changed his plans. “If not for stardom, my plan was to have a wife and two children,” he said in a 2018 interview. Success brought excess and rumours of infidelity soon followed. Reports once claimed he had taken another wife, but his camp swiftly denied it, insisting Sammie remained his only legal spouse. Through all that, Sammie stood her ground. “I knew what I signed up for,” she once said. “Women do not let musicians rest. I decided I would rather share my husband than lose him to another woman.”
Their bond grew stronger when Sammie was diagnosed with cancer. Shina described that time as the darkest period of his life. Watching her fight for survival humbled him and made him re-evaluate what really mattered. She recovered, and since then their marriage has quietly endured.
They have celebrated birthdays and anniversaries together publicly, with Sammie still sharing affectionate posts about him online.
For a man who once defined an era with his wild energy, it is almost poetic that stability found him through family. His relationship with Clarence has softened over time, and his marriage to Sammie has endured through fire and fame. Together they show that behind every legend is a human story filled with mistakes, forgiveness and love that chooses to stay.
The price of early fame
What Shina Peters lived through is not just his story. It is the pattern of early fame that keeps repeating in the Nigerian entertainment scene. Too much too soon, and suddenly the same gift that opens doors begins to close hearts.
Shina’s confession that he had a child at fourteen is not just a headline. It is a symbol of how fast the industry used to move. It tells us what happens when a child becomes the breadwinner for an entire family, when applause replaces guidance, and when stardom becomes a kind of solitude.
Conclusion
Today, Sir Shina Peters lives like a man who has made peace with his past. He still performs occasionally, his energy undimmed even at 66. Although he has revealed that he won’t be returning to the studio, explaining that the atmosphere is no longer conducive for him to record new songs. His music remains the foundation of Afro-pop as we know it.
When younger artists like Asake, Kizz Daniel, or Fireboy build rhythm-heavy hits, they are unknowingly walking the road Shina paved decades ago. He is the bridge between old Nigeria and new, between Juju and Afrobeats, between youth and wisdom.
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