Amaerfio was born on 22 September 1938 in Asere in
Accra. He started drumming at the age of 14, which he learned himself. and received as a teenager the nickname "The Rhythm Man". After playing in several bands in Ghana, in around 1960 he moved to London, where he played with other Ghanaian artists, including the brothers
Teddy Osei (
saxophone) and
Mac Tontoh (
trumpet). Together with other African and Caribbean musicians, he founded the group
Osibisa in 1969. They played a mixture of Western and African music. Amarfio wrote several of the band's songs and they scored several hits, including in the Netherlands (
Dutch Top 40) and the United Kingdom. Amarfio left the group in the early 1990s and moved back later to Accra where he was considered a musical hero. Amarfio died on 13 December 2022, at the age of 84. ==References==