In 1985, Adepoju came to America to play with O. J. Ekemode's Nigerian All-Stars, and three months later met
Babatunde Olatunji. He became an integral part of Olatunji's Drums of Passion, and through Olatunji met
Grateful Dead drummer
Mickey Hart. Since then he has frequently been a guest percussionist during Hart and
Bill Kreutzmann's "Rhythm Devils" segments of Grateful Dead concerts, and played talking drum with Mickey Hart's group
Bembe Orisha, which toured in 2001. He has been a part of most of Mickey Hart's projects since they first met, including the albums (and associated tours) ''
Mickey Hart's Mystery Box, At the Edge
, and Supralingua'', and was a
Grammy Award contributor to Mickey Hart's
Planet Drum and
Global Drum Project albums. Sikiru is a member of the Mickey Hart Band, has recorded on their CD Mysterium Tremendum, and is featured on vocals on the song "Who Stole the Show?". He has collaborated with
Muruga Booker and Olatunji on the CD
Cosmic Rhythm Vibrations (recently remastered and re-issued by
Chesky Records as
Circle of Drums). He plays with Muruga Booker and
Badal Roy as part of the Global Village Ceremonial Band, and appeared with them at the
Starwood Festival in 2003, which led to the creation of the SpiritDrum Festival (a tribute to [Babatunde Olatunji, which also featured
Jim Donovan of
Rusted Root,
Perry Robinson,
Richie "Shakin'" Nagan,
Jeff Rosenbaum and
Halim El-Dabh). He has recorded albums with artists as varied as
Carlos Santana,
Airto Moreira,
Bola Abimbola,
The String Cheese Incident,
Stevie Wonder,
Zakir Hussain, Chief Ebenezer Obey, the Inter-Reformers Band, and the Nigerian All-Stars. Adepoju also leads groups of his own, including The Honeymakers, Afrika Heartbeat, and Sikiru Adepoju & Heart Beat. Afrika Heartbeat debut their first CD, entitled
Ijinle Ilu, in 2003. The band Sikiru Adepoju & Heart Beat debut on 22 July 2009 at the 29th Starwood Festival, featuring Douglas "Val" Serrant (
steel drum and
djembe), guitarist Peter Fujii, percussionist Deen Badarou, trap drummer Deszon X. Claiborne, and DJ Deegan Mack Adams. At the same event he and Serrant joined a re-launch of the
Rainforest Band as a tribute to
Merl Saunders, the site of their last performance, featuring his son
Tony Saunders,
Michael Hinton, and other members of the Rainforest Band and other Saunders' projects. Adepoju's current project is entitled "Riddim Doctors". It features Sikiru Adepoju,
Giovanni Hidalgo,
Zakir Hussain, Ian "Inx" Herman, Femi Ojetunde, Peter Fujii, Sola Babatola. and Douglas "Val" Serrant. == Discography==