Nothing indeed lasts forever. Everything, including stardom, is usually for a while. Except when well managed and with the grace of God and extreme hard work. You can be a star today and a nobody tomorrow. You may shine now and tomorrow wither and die like a flower. And that is the lot of some of our music stars who can no longer re-enact the magic. Stars who used to dominate the airwaves, silverscreen and rule at concerts, but today are no longer there. Having been relegated to the background. YES INTERNATIONAL! Magazine takes another look at their careers then and now. Enjoy…
SIR SHINA PETERS – SSP, like he’s widely known, has lost the magic – and in spite of how hard he’s been working to bounce back, everything has been futile. Yes, he manages to still perform here and there and every once in a while, but the truth remains that Shina’s magic is gone! With his first two albums, Ace and Shinamania, SSP led us by the jugular, dictating the pace and even cutting across, not withstanding his singing majorly in his mother tongue (Yoruba). But with Dancing Time, his third album and the subsequent ones, his musical downturn began and till date has continued to remain the same.
MAJEK FASHEK – Drugs and mysticism finished Majek Fashek. His first album, Prisoner of Conscience and the second one, I & I Experience, shot him beyond the shores of Nigeria, with many tipping him then to succeed the legendary Bob Marley. A trip to the United States of America and a foreign contract with Interscope Records, however, altered everything as he got entangled with drugs along the way. Thus messing up both himself and his fans. Majek, today, is the opposite of his old self – poor, old, haggard, unkempt, tormented and above all, he can’t gather his thoughts to compose quality songs like he did in the past with hits like Send Down The Rain, Holy Spirit, Mother, Religion Na Politics and so on.
EVI EDNA-OGOSI – EEO was the undisputed Reggea Queen then. Churning out hits after hits, and album after album for Polygram Records, she got married to her manager, Emma Ogosi, but it crashed at some point. Frustrated and unable to cope, she fled to France or so where she currently is. Evi Edna-Ogosi (nee Ogoli) sang majorly in her Isoko, Delta language, proving to all that music transcends language barriers. Nearly all her songs were National Anthems then, including the few she sang in English like Happy Birthday. Unfortunately, nobody hears about her today.
STYL PLUS – This group of three used to be the rave in the R & B sector. But a combination of pride and indiscipline pushed them out of reckoning. Based in Abuja then, the three friends (Shifi Emoefe, Tunde Akinsanmi and Zeal Onyecheme) got so carried away by stardom that sometimes they substituted prior engagements for ephemeral things. Which today they are paying dearly for and possibly regretting. No more shows, no more front page news, very little cash and very little reckoning. Their magic is indeed gone!
OLU MAINTAIN – Olumide Edwards Adegbolu used to belong to a musical group known as Maintain until he went solo. But even at that, he still attached Maintain to his name. His first solo album wasn’t exactly a hit, but the second one, with the hit song, Yahoozee and its unique dance step, was simply magical, shattering all the known records and permanently gluing itself on the No. 1 spot for a very long time. The lyrical content was questioned and banned for allegedly encouraging 419 activities and Olu’s career plummeted, never to rise again ever since.