Nigerian high-life singer, Chinedu Okoli, popularly known as Flavour, has recounted his humble beginnings and how he was once made to leave the stage during a performance for the now-defunct PSquare.
In an interview on “In My Opinion” podcast, which was released on Sunday, August 18, Flavour narrated how he began his music career as a choir conductor and drummer in the church.
Afterwards, he joined a music company/ band that trained young boys.
When he left the band after 13 years to be a solo act, he said life became tough.
Flavour said: “Things started changing when I started seeing some artistes.
“When I left the band, I went into the streets. That was when the game became hard. All this time, I was in a good place; the music had procedures and all, but now I was in the streets.
“Like a street musician hustling, I went to different joints to play. I could sing so many songs; I had like 5,000 songs I could sing and play to entertain people.”
He explained that he had a regular spot – City Centre in Enugu – where he used to perform regularly from 8pm to 3am and he was beginning to build a fan base. Yet, he said when bigger artists came and performed for a shorter time, they got better reception from the fans.
He recalled: “We play from 8pm until 3am, but then I see these artistes; they play for like 30 minutes, and everybody is happy, clapping for them and hailing them. And I’m wondering, ‘what is going on? Are we not same artistes?'”
He then recalled a time P-Square came to the spot to promote their single “Temptation” and how that was a turning point in his life.
Flavour said: “I was playing and immediately P-Square came in, the manager said, ‘Hello. Off that thing’.
“I switched off and I passed the microphone, went somewhere and sat down.”
Flavour said he saw the fans screaming as the twins sang and he wondered if it was not the same songs he sings that they were singing.
According to him, this experience made him realise he needed to transition from being a mere musician to an artiste.
Flavour said, “So I was like, it’s the same music these people are doing I’ve been doing with you, and you never shouted like this. I was so cold; I was just watching. When they left, the manager just told me to carry on.
“Then it started occurring to me that these guys, the difference is that they create their sound, go to the studio, and record. That’s how it’s done. So you are just a music man.
“So I decided to change from a music man to an artiste, and that was the difficult part of it because I thought it was going to be easy. I could play, I could sing, but to create your own sound, where are you going to start from?
“The best way to go about it was to start afresh.”
