- +How They Signed Him On As A Recording Artist
- The Story Of The 2 Hits Records That Made Him
Evangelist Ebenezer Obey will be 75 in a few weeks time but many do not know how he hit it big in 1965. A few years back, Obey recalled how then, at night, he would sit down to watch the ‘Milky Way’ in the sky, full of twinkling, twinkling little stars. Then, he used to wonder how far they are from the earth, and he used to think about how long it would take him to reach his own musical stardom. His believe has always been: “If you want something and you work hard and pray to God for guidance, you’ll surely get it. With faith, you’ll get there”. That was what made him believe that God could help him. “I believe he could make me a star. This was what led me to praying to God that I wanted to be a Star. I wanted Him to turn me into a Star, and if I became a Star, I would build Him a church”.
That was his Covenant, a pledge from him to his Maker. Eventually, when God fulfilled His side of the bargain, Obey had to fulfill his too later when he became a star. “At such a time, the devil would always try to tempt you not to fulfil your pledge, but thank God, I built a church which I handed to ECWA at Coker Street, Agege, a church that can sit 600 people. I later established in my hometown,Abeokuta, a christian retreat centre called the New Rock Life Centre, which I will talk more about later. After the break from Fatai Rolling Dollar, I had to form my band, the International Brothers. A Good Samaritan had helped me to acquire the musical instruments. Members of my new band were mainly those Fatai was going to sack. The line-up of the International Brothers included the late Oke Aminu, who was dear to me as my alto back-up singer. We were in the Boys and Girls Club and he was also my childhood, band. He was very close to me. Other were: Samson Ogunlade, playing bongos, Vasco, playing samba, Salawu on sekere, and Ayodele B, maracas. Gabriel Adedeji was playing agogo; he later moved to bass guitar after I had introduced bass guitar into my music. Mutiu Kekere was on the tom tom and talking drum Monday John joined the band when I introduced the guitar, although Monday John had played briefly with late Tunde Nightingale before joining my band. La’Olowoyo, Matthew Elegba (percussion) and Giwa Ojo up singer) all joined the band later. As for me, the guitar is my favourite instrument. I can play all other percussions. The ability to play instruments helped as a bandleader in that you know when some-one is playing a wrong note or a faulty rhythm or something discordant. Your ears easily pick the fault and you can quickly correct the player.
I learnt the guitar, watching Fatai Rolling Dollar playing, and I picked it up fast. He was also learning then. I bought myself a box guitar at UTC, which was the only musical shop around then. It cost me £3:10s. I had already learnt how to play it from Rolling Dollar. There was a friend of mine called Ladi who had just returned from Fernando Po. He was a good guitarist and he actually showed me a few chords from C to F and G. Those are the three chords I started with. From there, I was able to progress on my own, adding more chords. From there, I was able to compose my songs”.
“People often say that the guitar is a difficult instrument. I don’t think it is all that difficult, If one has the interest and one is serious at it, one will find it easy to master. In those days, I was the only guitarist in my band. It was my guitar alone, my electric guitar. The best guitarists that time were Victor Uwaifo and Fred Coker. Another good one was Alabama Pedro, Roy Chicago’s guitarist. I never tried to copy anybody’s guitar playing sytle. I was experimenting on my own, fashioning my ideas to create an identity for myself”.
“I would like to put it on record that I was the one who introduced the innovation of bringing in 2nd and 3rd guitars into juju music”. Juju musicians before me were using one guitar, so I decided to improve upon it by adding more guitars, more talking drums and the bass guitar. I introduced the bass guitar into juju.
A member of my band, Monday John, was the one who introduced into juju guitar solos using popular songs, folksongs, hymns and the songs children sing in school. I don’t know how the inspiration came. We were doing a live performance when he did a solo using a popular school song. Everybody cheered and sang along because they knew the song. During recording, I asked Monday John to put that solo work into the record and it worked just as the impact it I generated during the live show. It wasn’t easy in those days to get recorded. I had prayed to God that I wanted to be a star and nothing less. With prayers and determination, I went to Decca Records for the first time. I had wanted to see the Artiste Manager, but his
Secretary wouldn’t allow me to see him. So, I headed straight to the office of the Managing Director, a whiteman, called Mr C. K. Cress. ‘You want to see the M.D.? What for?’ his secretary asked. ‘It’s about a record I want to make,’ I replied. ‘The best person to see is the Artiste Manager. He is in that office.’
I went home frustrated that day but undaunted. I went home and prayed. A week later, I was back in DECCA’s office, seeking again to see the M.D. but the Secretary I wouldn’t allow me. For hours, I refused to leave and she refused to let me see her boss. She would come to the reception room to find me adamantly sitting down there, waiting. Then with a scornful look she would ask: ‘Ha What are you still doing? I say you can’t see the M.D.’ ‘Please, let me see him,’ I would plead. ‘You can’t see him.’ ‘I beg you in the name of God, let me see him.’ ‘You think I don’t know my job? I say you can’t see the M.D.’ ‘Please, please, let me in.’ A drama was going on. We were causing a little commotion. The M.D. overheard the noise and wondered what was happening. He called his secretary on he intercom and asked what was happening and the secretary told him about how I had been pestering her for weeks, insisting on seeing him. Mr Cress invited me in. On entering his office, I did not hesitate to blow my trumpet as loud as possible. ‘Good morning sir, my name is Ebenezer Obey and I am a future star.’ Mr Cress had never found anything as funny. He broke into a fit of laughter, laughing and laughing, as if he had inhaled laughing gas. Amidst laughter he called his Artiste Manager, Mr Ogunbayo, on the intercom. ‘Mr Ogunbayo, come and meet a young man who is calling himself a future star.’ When Mr Ogunbayo came, I repeated the same thing and he too erupted into laughter. ‘I am not joking. I am going to be a star. I don’t want money. All I want is a chance to be recorded,’ I told them confidently. I must have overwhelmed them with my supreme confidence. They asked me if I had songs’ and I told them I had twenty-four songs. I was given an audition date and asked to be ready to sing eight songs. In those days, you had to bring your group to the studio for audition, where they would watch your performance as well as listen to your Songs and Lyrics. I had eleven days to prepare for the audition. They did not allow me to sing all the 8 songs. By the 5th song, they said that they had had enough. I had passed the audition! Two of the songs were selected: E wa wo ohun oju mi ri and Ma kanju, ala ore bikan. After passing the audition, the M.D. told me that my record must pass the Selector’s mark. What they did in those days was that they would record all the artistes and call record distributors (selectors) to come and listen, at the end of which they were to make their orders. If you didn’t hit the 500 records mark, you were out! When the M.D. told me that my songs had to go through that second hurdle, I started going to record stores to campaign for support. ‘Ebenezer Obey is my name,’ I would tell each distributor ‘I have just recorded with DECCA. I assure you, my record will sell. I am going to be a star, a big star. Please, select my record.’ I got assurances from many record stores that they would surely listen and place orders if my record was as good as I was boasting.
On the day the selectors came to listen to the new records, artistes were forbidden from showing up at DECCA premises; but I broke the rule. I was there, trembling with anxiety as a student awaiting result of his examination. The M.D. was surprised and amused to see me. ‘Mr Future Star, you are still around,’ he greeted me with a note of sarcasm and amusement. Then from his mouth came the happiest word in the world: ‘Congratulations!’ That word hit me as a joyful explosion. It was one of the happiest moments of my life. I was being congratulated not because I had passed the selectors’ test, but because I was close to the pass mark! ‘Even though your record was 19 marks short of 500, I am going to give you a chance in life, Mr future Star. I have requested an additional 25 records for promotion because I want to see if you’ll make it since you are so confident.’ That was how I made my debut as a recording artiste with DECCA. My first record E wa wo ohun oju mi ri was released as a single in 1964, and it did fairly well for a beginner. Olo mi gbo temi was the record that brought me into the limelight, but Palongo gave me the break-through. Both records were released in 1965. Such was the happiness of Mr Cress that he told me one day: ‘Ebenezer, remember when you first came into my office, you said you were a future star. If I hadn’t given you a chance, I would have missed a star. I thank God for you. You know what you are doing. You know where you are going. Keep working hard, and the sky will be your limit. Don’t relent.’
Mr Cress had become my father, my musical father; the man who gave me the opportunity to prove myself. Life is luck. Life is a gamble. Life is a game of chance. If I hadn’t taken the gamble of seeing Mr Cress at all costs, I would probably have missed the chance of my life. And on its own part, DECCA would have missed a star. Somehow, I believe it’s God’s work. With God, everything is possible. It was the divine hand of God that guided me to Mr Cress. There are many talented people in the world, who cannot come into the limelight because there is no one to discover them. As flowers sprouting in a lonely desert, they waste their sweetness, their beauty and their glory undiscovered.
I learnt from my days as a Pools Clerk that life is a game of luck. In the Pools business, people are looking for emergency money. Many people waste their money, hoping and dreaming to win. Their motto is, ‘If I don’t win today, I’ll win tomorrow.’ Even when they won, the next day, they still win to lose. They still used the money they won, in playing pools and at the end of the day, they lost all their money. Mine is not like that. All my life, I have always been lucky to be at the right place at. the right time, and to meet the right people as Mr Cress. the man who enable to win me.
QUOTE:
I learnt the guitar, watching Fatai Rolling Dollar playing, and I picked it up fast. I bought myself a box guitar at UTC, which was the only musical shop around then. It cost me £3:10s”
QUOTE:
“Olo mi gbo temi was the record that brought me into the limelight, but Palongo gave me the break-through. Both records were released in 1965”
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