Christy Essien-Igbokwe has always been famous, first as an actress taking minute roles at NTA Aba in the past century and more famous as Apena in the never-miss television drama series Masquerade. Little wonder that her age, just 50, is one that many would dispute.
She came into her own early, acting, then singing. It was as if she knew there was little time to do all she wanted, pushing out award winning songs in quick succession, and leaving singing more than 15 years ago.
Her passage which the family announced on Thursday would be a shock to those who were with her at an event two weeks ago, or others who never thought of her in that way. Her 51st birthday would have been on November 11.
Seun Rere, her most popular track, remains evergreen, in a career that saw her music overtaking acting where she was irreplaceable as Apena, a role she perfectly executed as Jegede’s wife.
As she devoted herself more to music and promotion of her works, her acting career withered. Efforts to revive it with occasional appearances on Masquerade were not successful. Her absence from Masquerade cost it high audience losses, as her replacement, tried as she did was not the audience’s idea of Apena, Christy, leading to its lethargic showing in subsequent episodes.
Christy belongs to as many parts as want to claim her. She is from Akwa Ibom, but those who grew up in Aba think of her as being an indigene of that part and were stunned to watch her perfect execution of the Apena role. Some argued that she was Yoruba.
Her marriage to Eddie Igbokwe, an accountant, extended her roots.
Awards she won include the Nigerian lady of songs award, Africa music mother award 1984, and honours for special achievement in Mexico, and the 1983 world song festival.
She became the first female president of the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria, PMAN and had one of the most turbulent regimes though she shunned a world tour to re-organise PMAN which she conceived after a 1981 visit to the USA where she discovered the musicians had a union.
She explained her PMAN involvement in an interview.
“I was working on my 11th album when some old men from PMAN came and forced me to become PMAN president. I was forced because it was not my choice. That was 1994. I did not campaign because it was not my desire. I had already secured a contract for a world tour. We had gone to the American embassy and secured visas for all my musicians. Suddenly, old men from PMAN asked me to be PMAN president. They said that since I founded PMAN, I was their mother,” she said.
“I remembered my late dad’s advice that if old men ask me for a favour, I should listen to them if I want to live to see my grand children. ‘What kind of nonsense was all this?’ I said to myself. I was booked to tour the world and here where these old men asking me to be PMAN president.”
Soon she was being accused of all manners of things. PMAN still bears the marks of the disputes. Her forays into business met with similar opposition in some instances.
Patience, Seun Rere, Ever Liked My Person, Taking My Time and Give Me a Chance, were some of her albums. They remain in demand though they were made in the 70‘s and 80‘s – testimonies to her foresight, hard work, dedication and commitment to a musical career. She is survived by her husband and four children. Her fans will sorely miss the lady of songs, who never left a last song.
She came into her own early, acting, then singing. It was as if she knew there was little time to do all she wanted, pushing out award winning songs in quick succession, and leaving singing more than 15 years ago.
Her passage which the family announced on Thursday would be a shock to those who were with her at an event two weeks ago, or others who never thought of her in that way. Her 51st birthday would have been on November 11.
Seun Rere, her most popular track, remains evergreen, in a career that saw her music overtaking acting where she was irreplaceable as Apena, a role she perfectly executed as Jegede’s wife.
As she devoted herself more to music and promotion of her works, her acting career withered. Efforts to revive it with occasional appearances on Masquerade were not successful. Her absence from Masquerade cost it high audience losses, as her replacement, tried as she did was not the audience’s idea of Apena, Christy, leading to its lethargic showing in subsequent episodes.
Christy belongs to as many parts as want to claim her. She is from Akwa Ibom, but those who grew up in Aba think of her as being an indigene of that part and were stunned to watch her perfect execution of the Apena role. Some argued that she was Yoruba.
Her marriage to Eddie Igbokwe, an accountant, extended her roots.
Awards she won include the Nigerian lady of songs award, Africa music mother award 1984, and honours for special achievement in Mexico, and the 1983 world song festival.
She became the first female president of the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria, PMAN and had one of the most turbulent regimes though she shunned a world tour to re-organise PMAN which she conceived after a 1981 visit to the USA where she discovered the musicians had a union.
“I was working on my 11th album when some old men from PMAN came and forced me to become PMAN president. I was forced because it was not my choice. That was 1994. I did not campaign because it was not my desire. I had already secured a contract for a world tour. We had gone to the American embassy and secured visas for all my musicians. Suddenly, old men from PMAN asked me to be PMAN president. They said that since I founded PMAN, I was their mother,” she said.
“I remembered my late dad’s advice that if old men ask me for a favour, I should listen to them if I want to live to see my grand children. ‘What kind of nonsense was all this?’ I said to myself. I was booked to tour the world and here where these old men asking me to be PMAN president.”
Soon she was being accused of all manners of things. PMAN still bears the marks of the disputes. Her forays into business met with similar opposition in some instances.
Patience, Seun Rere, Ever Liked My Person, Taking My Time and Give Me a Chance, were some of her albums. They remain in demand though they were made in the 70‘s and 80‘s – testimonies to her foresight, hard work, dedication and commitment to a musical career. She is survived by her husband and four children. Her fans will sorely miss the lady of songs, who never left a last song.
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