LEGENDARY A. B. CRENSTIL TO BE HONOURED AT 2013 LEGENDS AND LEGACY BALL

Legendary highlife musician, A. B. Crenstil, will be honoured at this year's Legends and Legacy (LAL) Ball organized by Imajin Advertisers.

The announcement of A. B. Crenstil, born  Alfred Benjamin Crentsil Jr, as the artiste to be celebrated and honoured this year, followed earlier rumours that legendary musician, Kojo Antwi, had been selected by organizers of the event.

The LAL Ball, which started in 2011, is an event which seeks to celebrate the achievements and legacies of living music legends. It celebrated hi-life great, Daddy Lumba in its maiden edition followed by Amakye Dede in 2012.


Organizers unveiled A. B. Crenstil as the honoree for this year at a colourful ceremony at the Oak Plaza Hotel in Accra.
An elated AB Crenstil, whose musical career spans almost five decades, in a speech at the unveiling ceremony said, “I feel honoured. It is a good thing that would help me.”

This year's LAL Ball, according to the organizers, will come off at the Accra International Conference Centre on November 30. They, however said, supporting acts for the event will be announced on a later date.

'Biography'
Alfred Benjamin Crentsil Jr. was born to the late Alfred Benjamin Crentsil Snr. and Esi Yaaba at Posten in the 1940s.
He was always known as AB junior until his father died in 1984 and then he assumed the AB Crentsil name without the junior.

His primary and middle school education was the Takoradi Methodist Primary and Rev. Cleveland Middle School Respectively.

After his middle school examination, AB worked as an electrical apprentice under his father, who was the Works Superintendent of the Technical branch of Ghana Railways at Takoradi.

While in the middle school, Crentsil was introduced to the guitar by a Mr. Thedoh. Crentsil became proficient in playing guitar and started singing along as he plays it.

He was simultaneously working as an electrician and playing with the Strollers Band owned by one Kwesi Donkor. Crentsil has played with the El Dorado's, Sweet Talks and then finally the Ahenfo Band.

Crentsil continues to release new albums and he continues to win all the top accolades that are awarded to top musicians in Ghana.

As he always says: "When burger highlife came and everybody loved it, we all joined the train because we also wanted to make some money, but one that I realized is that, highlife will always be the original form of music for Ghanaians and we will always come back to it."

Crentsil is married to Elizabeth and they have seven children.