Exclusive: I was misled by bad friends –Singaholic

Afro hip hop artiste, Singaholic, emerges from a self-imposed ‘exile’ and explains his long absence from the music scene, CHUX OHAI writes

About eight years ago, Igwebuike Nwelue, aka Singaholic, appeared on the Nigerian music scene with an upbeat 15-track album titled The Quest Begins.

One of the songs in that album, titled ‘Onye Ike Gaagwu in Igbo’, quickly rose on the local music charts and clearly marked him out as a very talented artiste.

In no time, the hit song became a popular item – a theme that dominated the airwaves, rocked the dance floors for quite a while and ultimately shot Singaholic into the limelight.

The album was, no doubt, a huge success. The singer claims, in an interview with our correspondent, that it was solely funded from his own pocket. For a ‘greenhorn’ who was having his first real outing on show business, that was quite remarkable.

While the groove lasted, however, Singaholic had great fun. “A lot of money was coming in, I was busy doing shows most of the time and getting a lot of attention from music fans. I really felt on top of the world at the time,” he says, recalling the bright side of his foray into music. But it was for only a short time.

Two years later, the singer’s fortunes suffered a serious dip and he was suddenly yanked off the music scene for much longer than he could ever imagine.

Singaholic blames the development on inexperience and certain factors that he either took for granted or ignored when he was starting out as a music artiste.

“I didn’t have a team and I was working alone. I was inexperienced, having come into show business straight from the oil and gas industry. I had to quit a lucrative job with a major oil servicing company based in Port Harcourt in order to concentrate on music. I thought that a career in music would offer me a better future than working as a corrosion engineer.

“I must admit that I made some avoidable mistakes. For instance, I should have found out more about the nitty-gritty of show business before dabbling into it, but I didn’t. That was why I ran into a lot of problems after I had released the album,” he says.

One of the prices he had to pay for making such mistakes was listening to other people give rapper Nigga Raw the credits for Onye Ike Gaagwu, even after he had shot a video to promote the hit-song.

The artiste also wishes he did not surround himself with “bad friends” and other hangers-on. He claims that they misled him into making the wrong decisions about his future as an artiste, as well as encouraged him to fritter away all his earnings from music.

“Bad friends were responsible for what happened to my career after The Quest Begins. They were the ones who advised me to record another album, though I wasn’t too sure the time was ripe for it. Looking back now, I wish I had not listened to them,” he recalls.

Singaholic admits that, while under pressure from his so-called friends, he made a deal with a certain marketer to record a second album for purely commercial purposes in 2009. But it turned out be a huge flop.

Yet, undeterred by the failure of the album, he had made another effort to record a third one, almost in quick succession. “But, it got to a point where I suddenly realised that I had been spending a lot of money on such projects. Then I decided to give myself a break. What happened next was that I dusted up my engineering books – I studied Materials and Metallurgical Engineering at the Federal University of Technology in Owerri – and went in search of a new job in the oil and gas industry. That is where I am now,” he says.

Still burning with passion for music, the singer declares that he would give anything to return to the entertainment scene. Having learnt his lessons the hard way, he is now ready and eager to “bounce” back with a loud bang. But, this time, he requires a proper platform to operate and to avoid a repeat of the same mistakes of the past.

Failing to find the right platform in Nigeria, Singaholic warns, he would have no choice but to relocate to Europe or North America and try to pick up the broken bits of his music career.

“Music is in my blood. But, this time, I am not ready to leave anything to chance. If I don’t get the right platform here, I may have to seek a more favourable environment abroad where I can operate as a music artiste without having to bother about the activities of pirates or worry about how to get my royalties,” he says.