Popular juju artiste, Iyun Janet Ajilore, aka St Janet, has died.
The news of her passing is shocking the waves just months after twin juju act, Taiwo Adegbodu, passed on, digging another gap into the world of great talents in the country.
Publisher and socialite, Otunba Femi Davies, announced St Janet’s death in a post shared on his Facebook page on Sunday.
According to Davies, she died on Saturday after a brief illness.
Announcing her death, he wrote, “St Janet (Iyun Janet Ajilore), a popular Nigerian Juju and Highlife musician known for her vibrant live performances, energetic stage presence and socially unfiltered party tracks, is dead. She died after a brief illness on Saturday.”
Dubbed the self-styled “General Overseer of St. Bottles Cathedral, Sinners’ Chapel,” St. Janet was a polarising, charismatic, and revolutionary force within the Yoruba highlife and Juju music scene.
Pundits would say her departure marks the end of a unique musical era, leaving behind a legacy defined by artistic audacity, vocal prowess, and unyielding individuality.
Ironically, born into a deeply religious family, St. Janet’s musical foundation began in church.
The artiste born by parents who were educators honed her singing as a young chorister in the Cherubim and Seraphim (C&S) white-garment church movement.
This early exposure to the energetic, rhythm-driven praise style of the Aladura movement shaped her powerful stage presence.
By her late teens, she transitioned into secular music as a backup vocalist for Juju bands, developing a tight grasp of live arrangement and Yoruba rhythm before eventually stepping into the spotlight as a bandleader in her own right.
St. Janet carved out her niche by blending classic juju beats with controversial, adult-oriented, and satirically explicit Yoruba lyrics.
What set her apart was her trademark structural format: she would often begin her performances with heartfelt, soul-stirring Christian worship hymns before abruptly switching to raunchy, playful, and irreverent tracks.
This unexpected juxtaposition earned her critics among conservative religious circles, but it also cemented her as a high-demand favourite for elite private parties, nightlife circuits, and celebrations across Southwestern Nigeria.
St Janet navigated legal threats, broadcast bans, and social media debates with quiet resilience, maintaining that her art was primarily high-energy entertainment meant to make listeners dance and let go of their daily burdens.
Offstage, however, colleagues and journalists often noted the sharp contrast between St. Janet’s bold, unfiltered musical persona and her soft-spoken, reserved private life.
