| EGBERI PAPA 1 |
Celebrity
success stories are not just talked about for the pleasure of doing so but to
serve as a source of inspiration to the upcoming ones who tow the same path
with them. These stories would be incomplete without talking about the hurdles
they passed through in their course of becoming rich and famous. He currently
ranks as one of the richest celebrities in Nigeria, Enetimi Odom, popularly
known as Timaya in this article lets us into his journey to fame and fortune.
He
was born in Bayelsa, then partly Rivers State, in the year 1977 into a
polygamous family. He is the last of 7 children from the mother. Although his
father worked in a bank and his mother a trader, there was little to go round
the family. Being that he had passion for music and zeal to succeed, he broke
free from the family to pursue music. In his early days, he attended Assemblies
of God Nursery and primary school. Although he was always quiet in class, he
could never be bullied by his peers, as a matter of fact; he was always feared
because as a child, all he had in his head was how to make it in life. He left
home at a very tender age of 14 years without a dime to begin his journey into
success. His first point of call was in an older lady’s house which he said
“When I had nowhere to stay, I had to go and live with a
woman friend who turned me into a prisoner. I had to live by her rules. I could
not go anywhere until she allowed me to. I could never stay out until 7pm, or
else, I am in trouble. She was older than me by four years and I did not have a
choice.
“Anytime I complained, she threatened to throw me out of her
house. If I failed to make love to her, she would accuse me of sleeping with
other ladies, and she would again threaten to throw my things out. That was
when I was in Port Harcourt. It was not easy for me then, but what could I do?
It was when I was able to save some money to get another place that I was able
to escape.”
That
experience was the kick to a new lease of life for Timaya. He moved to Lagos to
finish up his secondary school where he attended Ikeja Grammar School and
finally obtained his Secondary School Certificate. After his secondary school,
he tried furthering his education in the higher institution, to actually follow
the footstep of his father who was a banker, like he said in one of his songs,
“Book no enter my head,” for this, he dropped out of school. He decided to follow
his music squarely by coming down to Lagos finally. He got his break when he
joined the Eedris Abdulkareem band. His tremendous talent and pattern of
singing made him work his way up the ladder to become Eedris’ number one backup
singer.
“Eedris was a good person. One thing I like
about him is that he is fearless, and believes in himself so much. He knows how
to perform on stage. He knows how to carry the crowd, and that is one thing I
have learnt from him. He could carry the street along, he could relate to the
people. I learnt all that from him. What I did not like about him is the fact
that he only tolerated his boys. Till date, he never paid me a dime.
“The only money he gave to me was N1,000 after
a show we did at Kuramo Beach (Lagos). That I did not copy from him. I treat my
boy’s fine. I don’t owe them. They all have cars. I know that they all have
their own family and their own dream, so I don’t mess with that. Eedris had
time only for himself,” Timaya said.
Having worked as a backup
artiste for Eedris for some years, he decided to make it all by himself by
participating in a talent hunt titled Street to Fame, put together by a popular
Nollywood actress back then, Hilda Dokubo. This was where everyone noticed his
talents. He was rooted to win the challenge, but on the day of the finals, he
lost his voice and ended up losing the competition. But there were scouts at
the show, and he was already noticed.
Basorge Tariah jr., who was one of the judges
at the talent hunt, took special interest in Timaya. He took him to Daniel
Wilson’s studio. It was at Daniel Wilson’s studio that Timaya met K-Solo, the
man that produced his first hit song that brought him to limelight. K-Solo was
at the studio to record a song for Felix Duke. The chance meeting ended up in
Timaya’s first hit, which was self-titled.
Prior to this, his benefactor Basorge told him
he was handling some projects then and Timaya should wait a bit. But Timaya had
been holding on too long. He decided to look for money on his own to record his
songs.
“I had to go back to Port Harcourt to gather
money from friends. When I got back to Lagos, I went straight to K-Solo and we
started off recording. Then, some people came in from Russia and tried to sign
me. They wanted to sign me for five years and two albums. It was for N650, 000.
For me, it was a big thing. But their own lawyer called me aside and advised me
not to sign the contract.
“I almost swore for him. I thought he was
against my progress. I did not know he was saving me from enslaving myself. The
lawyer delayed me from signing till the label got frustrated. I’m thankful to
that lawyer till today. So all the while, they were paying my studio bills.
“I printed 5,000 copies of my demo C.D, and
took them to Port Harcourt. Before you know it, the song was doing well in Port
Harcourt. After a while, I found out that the songs were doing well in the
East, but I could not get acceptance in Lagos. I went to all the popular
marketers in Alaba, but none of them wanted to market my song. One even offered
me N50, 000 for the whole C.D,
As I was going home that same day, one road
side C.D seller from Port Harcourt called me that his brother wanted to buy my
work. That was how I met the CEO of Danko Music, who bought it for N500, 000.
“I used part of the money for promotion of the
songs. I rented a one-room apartment and started surviving with what was left.
My music was so popular, yet I was so broke. I lived in a compound where there
was a mango tree. Anytime there were heavy winds, I and my landlord would bring
bucket out to pick mangos. He would start abusing me that what kind of a
musician am I? I had two popular songs, yet I was broke.”
Not long after, Timaya started getting shows.
His first major show was a university gig. He was paid just N120, 000. The
money was not much, but that money, he said, marked the end of poverty for him.
He started getting shows from all over the country after that.
“Later that year, that marketer that bought my
song called me up and bought me a car. You will hardly see a marketer do that.
He was not obliged to do that. He sold so much of my work that he was just
grateful.”
The relationship between Timaya and K-Solo
used to be very strong. They were like brothers. Timaya was always found in his
studio. But all of a sudden, Timaya’s albums started having less and less of
K-Solo inputs. What really broke up their brotherhood?
“The issue of K-Solo is a non-issue. It’s not
like K-Solo did anything big for me. I paid him for all the jobs he did for me.
What I noticed was that, all the slangs I put in my songs, K-Solo started
putting them in songs of all the people he was producing. I called him and told
him that what he was sharing freely to other artistes were my own style and
identity. I told him to stop because it would start looking as if he was the
one who owned those slogans.
“He said ‘aha, shebi we are together.’ I told
him no. Another reason I did not work much with him is that his style was
getting to sound the same. In fact, you could voice any of my songs easily on
any of his beats. I really wanted something fresh. That was why I started
working with J-Sleek and Spankie and other producers.”
When people
complain of Timaya’s arrogance and boisterous attitude, the story of his rise
to fame should better explain that. The young man who faced a lot of hurdles in
the course of his career believes nothing can shake him anymore as an
individual as he has seen “many” things.