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Mystery surrounds Michael Jackson's sudden death
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One day after Michael Jackson's sudden death, speculation was already turning on Friday to what killed the 50-year-old "King of Pop" just weeks before his long-awaited series of comeback concerts. Jackson, a former child star who be...
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R.I.P. Michael Jackson: The Greatest of All Time
Posted Thu Jun 25, 2009 5:55pm PDT by Billy Johnson, Jr. in Hip-Hop Media Training
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It still has not hit me. It feels so strange. Michael Jackson is dead. He was only 50 years old, a milestone age. He just celebrated the 25th anniversary of "Thriller," the best-selling album of all time, and re-released it in February.He was scheduled to start his show run in London in a few weeks.
Maybe Michael's career had reached its peak, but I was not convinced that he was done with music. When he turned 50 last August, I did a series of interviews with radio stations. All of the DJs asked me if I thought Michael Jackson could make a comeback. They wanted to know if he could get past the controversies that dominated his news coverage over the last 10-plus years. My answer was a matter-of-fact "yes."
People often underestimate the power of music, and the effect that it has on us. We sometimes forget how a great song with a feel-good message lifts us up, and makes us smile and remember the place we had the most fun dancing to it and with whom.
Michael Jackson is one of the few artists in the history of the art form to be able to take one song, like "Billie Jean," and reach people of all age groups, races, and nationalities.
Michael has done this time and time again for decades, as both a solo artist and member of The Jackson 5.
This type of legacy cannot be erased by even the most horrible of charges and allegations. His music and performances are historic and forever engrained in our hearts.
Rick Sanchez, a floor manager at the popular Amoeba Music in Hollywood, says that his staff was "equally shocked" when they heard the news of Jackson's passing. "A lot of people are buying his music which usually happens in these situations," Sanchez says, referring to the breaking news of a musician's death.
Sanchez adds that all of Jackson's music always sells well at his location.
Rosemary Jean-Louis, a Michael Jackson fan and blogger from Atlanta, is nervous, hoping the news reports that Jackson has died are not true. "I don't want to believe it because it's Michael Jackson," Jean-Louis says. "He has been the guy considered invincible who always seems to come back. He is only 50. He was on the verge of such a big comeback with his concerts. No matter what he's gone through or what the crazy circumstances and dark period of his life with that poor trial-that taken aside-he is one of the musical geniuses of our times, truly the King of Pop."
I never learned to do his moonwalk dance move, but like everyone else, I was blown away when I saw him unveil it on Motown's famous 25th anniversary TV special in 1984.
I was too shy of a kid to get one of the red-and-black stripped jackets like the one he wore in the "Thriller" video, but I thought it was cool.
I did, however, have an afro Jheri curl in 1979, when Jackson released his album "Off the Wall," which included jams like "Don't Stop ‘til You Get Enough" and "Workin' Day and Night." I was 10, and whenever the high school girls on my block told me that I was cute and looked like Michael Jackson, I blushed and took it as a huge compliment.
My 6 1/2-year-old twins know and love his music as do the rest of us. This will never change.
I know he had been dealing with a lot these last few years. I hope that at the time of his passing he was in a happy place. Reportedly, he had been rehearsing in Los Angeles for the last two months, preparing for his London dates. His 50-year-old life may have been short, but it was impactful. His accomplishments are tremendous.
I offer my sincere condolences to his children, parents, siblings, and other family members, and to his friends and fans.
Watch Classic Michael Jackson videos.

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Michael Jackson, `King of Pop,' dead at 50AP, Jun 26, 2009 12:22 am PDT
Michael Jackson, the "King of Pop" who once moonwalked above the music world, died Thursday as he prepared for a comeback bid to vanquish nightmare years of sexual scandal and financial calamity. He was 50.
Jackson died at UCLA Medical Center after being stricken at his rented home in Holmby Hills. Paramedics tried to resuscitate him at his home for nearly three-quarters of an hour, then rushed him to the hospital, where doctors continued to work on him.
"It is believed he suffered cardiac arrest in his home. However, the cause of his death is unknown until results of the autopsy are known," his brother Jermaine said. Police said they were investigating, standard procedure in high-profile cases.
Jackson's death brought a tragic end to a long, bizarre, sometimes farcical decline from his peak in the 1980s, when he was popular music's premier all-around performer, a uniter of black and white music who shattered the race barrier on MTV, dominated the charts and dazzled even more on stage.
His 1982 album "Thriller" — which included the blockbuster hits "Beat It," "Billie Jean" and "Thriller" — is the best-selling album of all time, with an estimated 50 million copies sold worldwide.
At the time of his death, Jackson was rehearsing hard for what was to be his greatest comeback: He was scheduled for an unprecedented 50 shows at a London arena, with the first set for July 13.
As word of his death spread, MTV switched its programming to play videos from Jackson's heyday. Radio stations began playing marathons of his hits. Hundreds of people gathered outside the hospital. In New York's Times Square, a low groan went up in the crowd when a screen flashed that Jackson had died, and people began relaying the news to friends by cell phone.
"No joke. King of Pop is no more. Wow," Michael Harris, 36, of New York City, read from a text message a friend had sent him. "It's like when Kennedy was assassinated. I will always remember being in Times Square when Michael Jackson died."
The public first knew him as a boy in the late 1960s, when he was the precocious, spinning lead singer of the Jackson 5, the singing group he formed with his four older brothers out of Gary, Ind. Among their No. 1 hits were "I Want You Back," "ABC" and "I'll Be There."
He was perhaps the most exciting performer of his generation, known for his backward-gliding moonwalk, his feverish, crotch-grabbing dance moves and his high-pitched singing, punctuated with squeals and titters. His single sequined glove, tight, military-style jacket and aviator sunglasses were trademarks, as was his ever-changing, surgically altered appearance.
"For Michael to be taken away from us so suddenly at such a young age, I just don't have the words," said Quincy Jones, who produced "Thriller." "He was the consummate entertainer and his contributions and legacy will be felt upon the world forever. I've lost my little brother today, and part of my soul has gone with him."
Jackson ranked alongside Elvis Presley and the Beatles as the biggest pop sensations of all time. He united two of music's biggest names when he was briefly married to Presley's daughter, Lisa Marie, and Jackson's death immediately evoked comparisons to that of Presley himself, who died at age 42 in 1977.
As years went by, Jackson became an increasingly freakish figure — a middle-aged man-child weirdly out of touch with grown-up life. His skin became lighter, his nose narrower, and he spoke in a breathy, girlish voice. He often wore a germ mask while traveling, kept a pet chimpanzee named Bubbles as one of his closest companions, and surrounded himself with children at his Neverland ranch, a storybook playland filled with toys, rides and animals. The tabloids dubbed him "Wacko Jacko."
"It seemed to me that his internal essence was at war with the norms of the world. It's as if he was trying to defy gravity," said Michael Levine, a Hollywood publicist who represented Jackson in the early 1990s. He called Jackson a "disciple of P.T. Barnum" and said the star appeared fragile at the time but was "much more cunning and shrewd about the industry than anyone knew."
Jackson caused a furor in 2002 when he playfully dangled his infant son, Prince Michael II, over a hotel balcony in Berlin while a throng of fans watched from below.
In 2005, he was cleared of charges he molested a 13-year-old cancer survivor at Neverland in 2003. He had been accused of plying the boy with alcohol and groping him, and of engaging in strange and inappropriate behavior with other children.
The case followed years of rumors about Jackson and young boys. In a TV documentary, he acknowledged sharing his bed with children, a practice he described as sweet and not at all sexual.
Despite the acquittal, the lurid allegations that came out in court took a fearsome toll on his career and image, and he fell into serious financial trouble.
Michael Joseph Jackson was born Aug. 29, 1958, in Gary. He was 4 years old when he began singing with his brothers — Marlon, Jermaine, Jackie and Tito — in the Jackson 5. After his early success with bubblegum soul, he struck out on his own, generating innovative, explosive, unstoppable music.
The album "Thriller" alone mixed the dark, serpentine bass and drums and synthesizer approach of "Billie Jean," the grinding Eddie Van Halen solo on "Beat It," and the hiccups and falsettos on "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'."
The peak may have come in 1983, when Motown celebrated its 25th anniversary with an all-star televised concert and Jackson moonwalked off with the show, joining his brothers for a medley of old hits and then leaving them behind with a pointing, crouching, high-kicking, splay-footed, crotch-grabbing run through "Billie Jean."
The audience stood and roared. Jackson raised his fist.
By then he had cemented his place in pop culture. He got the plum Scarecrow role in the 1978 movie musical "The Wiz," a pop-R&B version of "The Wizard of Oz," that starred Diana Ross as Dorothy.
During production of a 1984 Pepsi commercial, Jackson's scalp sustains burns when an explosion sets his hair on fire.
He had strong follow-up albums with 1987's "Bad" and 1991's "Dangerous," but his career began to collapse in 1993 after he was accused of molesting a boy who often stayed at his home. The singer denied any wrongdoing, reached a settlement with the boy's family, reported to be $20 million, and criminal charges were never filed.
Jackson's expressed anger over the allegations on the 1995 album "HIStory," which sold more than 2.4 million copies, but by then, the popularity of Jackson's music was clearly waning, even as public fascination with his increasingly erratic behavior was growing.
Jackson married Lisa Marie Presley in 1994, and they divorced in 1996. Later that year, Jackson married Deborah Rowe, a former nurse for his dermatologist. They had two children together: Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., known as Prince Michael, now 12; and Paris Michael Katherine Jackson, 11. Rowe filed for divorce in 1999.
Jackson also had a third child, Prince Michael II. Now 7, Jackson said the boy nicknamed Blanket as a baby was his biological child born from a surrogate mother.
Cardiac arrest is an abnormal heart rhythm that stops the heart from pumping blood to the body. It can occur after a heart attack or be caused by other heart problems.
Billboard magazine editorial director Bill Werde said Jackson's star power was unmatched. "The world just lost the biggest pop star in history, no matter how you cut it," Werde said. "He's literally the king of pop."
Jackson's 13 No. 1 one hits on the Billboard charts put him behind only Presley, the Beatles and Mariah Carey, Werde said.
"He was on the eve of potentially redeeming his career a little bit," he said. "People might have started to think of him again in a different light."
__
AP Special Correspondent Linda Deutsch and AP writers Derrik J. Lang, Solvej Schou, Anthony McCartney and Thomas Watkins in Los Angeles; and Virginia Byrne, Hillel Italie, Nekesa Mumbi Moody and Jocelyn Noveck in New York contributed to this report.
More Artist News
Mystery surrounds Michael Jackson's sudden death
Jun 25, 2009 11:05 pm PDT
One day after Michael Jackson's sudden death, speculation was already turning on Friday to what killed the 50-year-old "King of Pop" just weeks before his long-awaited series of comeback concerts. Jackson, a former child star who be...
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Jun 25, 2009 8:14 pm PDT
Neither one of them strangers to the strangest of headlines, Michael Jackson and Britney Spears also shared a stage. The duo performed "The Way You Make Me Feel" together for Jackson's 30th Anniversary Celebration, which air...
Like Elvis, Jackson was a King who died young
Jun 25, 2009 8:05 pm PDT
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News of Jackson's death first spread online
Jun 25, 2009 7:45 pm PDT
It was a where-were-you moment in a digital age. Michael Jackson's death was not learned from a fatherly TV news anchor. Instead, the news first spread online. Some of the initial reports from various outlets were confusing: Was Jackson ...
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Jun 25, 2009 7:23 pm PDT
A selected discography of Michael Jackson's music: ___ No. 1 songs: "Ben," 1972. "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough," 1979. "Rock With You," 1980. "The Girl Is Mine," 1982. "Beat it," 1983. "Billie Jean," 1983. "Say Say Say,...
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D’banj’s heart of gold
By TOSIN AJIRIRE
•D’banjPhoto: Sun News Publishing
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The heart of Dapo Oyebanjo, popularly known as D’banj is certainly not cast in iron. The rave of the moment, who turned 29 on Tuesday, must have had his heart carved in pure gold. The Igwe crooner couldn’t have chosen a more auspicious way to celebrate his birthday when unlike most Nigerians, who throw huge parties for their friends and families, chose to spend the day in the company of the underprivileged, and secondary school students.Sporting a designer gray suit and oxblood shirt, D’banj spent a good part of his 29th birthday with the abandoned children born with life-threatening and terminal ailments and disabilities like down syndrome, polio, cerebral palsy, epilepsy and hydrocephalus at the Hearts of Gold Children’s Hospice, an orphanage located in Surulere, Lagos. Accompanied by his producer and CEO of Mo’hits records, Don Jazzy and other artistes on the label like Ikechukwu, Wande Cole and Naeto C, the music star took time out to cuddle and serenade the children. He later gave them a cheque of N1 million as well as food items. On his decision to visit the children, D’banj told Blockbuster thus: “It’s a spontaneous decision. I just woke up this morning and decided to celebrate my birthday with the underprivileged children. It’s my own way of giving back to a society that has given me so much. Though, I have done a lot in the past for the underprivileged through my Koko Foundation, this is the first time I would be visiting the hospice.”Speaking on behalf of Mrs. Laja Adedoyin, Chief Executive Officer and founder of Hearts of Gold Hospice, Irene Ikediashi thanked D’banj for the gesture which she said would go a long way in providing for the upkeep of the children. D’banj later paid a surprise visit to Dowen College in Lekki, Lagos where he extended his philanthropic gesture to three best graduating students of the school in the 2008-2009 academic sessions. The students, Oritsemisan Ikpobe, Ramon Shitta and Saheedat Onifade had each received a scholarship grant worth $20,000 from the Koko master.According to D’banj, the gesture was a way of repaying the students who had for long craved for a live musical performance by him. The artiste disclosed that some time in 2007, an On-Air-Personality of a major radio station in Lagos had posed as his manager and duped the students of about N5 million with the promise that he would bring him for a live musical performance in the school.Blockbuster learnt that each of the students had paid N10,000 for the purported performance by D’banj. But then the agony and disappointment of the students were forgotten as they finally had the chance to see their favourite music star perform live in the school hall on Tuesday. Along with Wande Cole, Ikechukwu and Naeto C, D’banj gave the students the fun of their lifetime as he performed most of his popular songs like Igwe, Tongolo and You Don Make Me Fall in Love, among others.


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She insisted she was the girl next door. The okada riders in Mazamaza, Lagos, didn’t think so. They saw through her designer sunglasses and collected N250 for leading her to The Sun Corporate Office, a service that ordinarily cost only N50. Their rationale for charging her 500% more than everybody else was because she is now a star. They are right, aren’t they? But the journey has been long for this once troublesome girl who preferred football to dolls. Uche Jombo let us into her world: the intimate details of her hero, her father, Nelson Jombo, the man who shaped her world view of men and marriage and why we should stop blaming men for not being able to keep their zips up. In tears, she told the story of the father she loved to bits but who ‘refused’ to live beyond 57 years.Mike Awoyinfa, Dimgba Igwe, Funke Egbemode and Sam Olatunji were there.Sunday, June 14, 2009
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I was such a difficult child that my mother told me I must have at least one child to do to me what I did to her.I was born in Enugu. Later, my dad moved back to Aba. My childhood is a huge part of where I am today. I was not an easy child. My mother used to say I must have a child like me and I would say no, what if I don’t want to have a children and she would tell me I must have one and go through what I made her go through. I did everything a teenager would do and more. I climbed trees, played football and played cowboy. I’m short-sighted and that is as a result of a clothes hanger entering my eyes. I was the only female playing football with boys. At that point, my mum had given up because she felt I thought I was a boy. It was then that a friend told her to put me in a drama group in church. They called the group Children of the Lord. We ministered every Sunday but I was not happy because I thought my mother wanted to curtail my excesses. Later, when I heard they gave scholarship every quarter, I started competing to win. That was the only time I had acting experience. I have played every woman in the Bible (laughter). It was a very good starting point for me. When I told Fidelis Duker I still remember some of the lines I played in the church, he told me to read the last one I played. I read the lines of Ruth and he was impressed that I could still remember my lines of over six years.
My father said Abriba girls don’t act.At a point, my dad said, ‘you are an Abiriba girl, you cannot act or disgrace the family name.’ Ten years ago when I was starting out as an actor, if you say you wanted to act, it is like you had given up on life. That is why it gives me joy when mothers stop me to say I should help their children that want to act. And now my uncles refer to me as their niece in interviews. It is a lovely feeling. I never thought that would happen.
An Abiriba girl is expected to go to school, marry and make babies but I broke the mythAn Abiriba girl just goes to school, prepares herself, gets married and stay there. Sometimes, an Abiriba man will tell you to sit at home and be a full-time housewife. He feels it is an affront if you go out and work. I sit back and hear lots of stories come out of my culture. Where I’m coming from, I’m larger than life because you have so many things in front of you telling you you cannot break out of this chain or life. But I have been able to break out.Some say it is even unheard of for an Abiriba girl to marry from outside Abiriba.But my mother is not Abiriba. Even my elder sister, who is the first child of a first son, did not marry an Abiriba man. That is to tell you how strong my mum is. I think she was able to give us the opportunity to be whatever we want to be irrespective of the culture. So far, I have not dated an Abiriba man. I’m not saying I have not dated an Ogbo man but an Abiriba man, no and I cannot say who I have dated in the papers. Maybe somebody dey there dey count for me (general laughter). Today, I’m an Abiriba girl who stood for what she believed in and is living her dreamI’m just the girl next door. What I mean by that is those close to me know me as Uche Obi and not the popular Uche Jombo that people know. I think at a point you have to surround yourself with people who know you and can tell you the truth. The Jombo name is both a blessing and a curse. Jombo is my real name. In Abriba, the Jombo is a popular family name. It is not a nickname. Every Jombo in Abriba is related to me.
Every Abiriba person is believed to be strong in business and I am no exception. I think I work harder because of where I come from. In the beginning, my father would not hear jack from me as per acting. He went on and on to tell me I’m an Abiriba girl because at a point Abiriba girls were seen but not heard. So, I’m proud to be an Abiriba girl who stood for what she believed in and is living her dream. Fidelis Duker gave me my first on-screen opportunity.It happened by accident. I had taken a letter to Fidelis Duker as one of the marketers of REEL Awards. When I got there, there were so many people; I think I was number 50 or so. When I got inside, he did not even look at me, he just pushed the script in front of me and said read. I said, ‘I’m not here to read; I’m here to give you this.’ He looked up from his table and said, ‘what’s that supposed to mean?’ He said, ‘you are not an actress and you can’t act.’ I said, no, ‘I’m not an actress but I can act.’ He asked how I knew I could act. I told him three years of my secondary school was sponsored by a scholarship from an Acting School. He asked if I had acted in front of a camera and I said no. He told me to read for him and I did. I walked away with the Linda role. Fidelis Duker was the first person to give me the on-screen opportunity. That was in Images. I don’t think he has paid me for that job (laughter). Actually, he was the first person that made me believe I could do this aside my sister.
Being an Igbo girl does not guarantee success in NollywoodAfter Images, I started working with people that were on the same set. I did My Visa To Hell and Adure, which was my first lead. People always thought it was my first film. It wasn’t; it was just that it came out before My Visa To Hell.Being an Igbo girl does not give you an edge in this business. I don’t think so. If anybody should know I think I should because I don’t think I saw success like this five years ago. I don’t think there is any tribal sentiment. People that say that are just too lazy to go out there to look for job or package themselves for the job.
The famed sex-for-role does not existAnybody coming into the industry must first believe in himself. It starts with believing in yourself. Trust me, the disappointment will come but your belief in yourself will keep you going. As for the sex-for-role thing, it doesn’t exist. If it does I would have been a star long before now.
My father, my hero and why I think men are dogsMy father is dead but he was my first hero. He is the reason I think there is love and I also think men are dogs. The truth of the matter is, it is not their fault. It is the way they are built. It is not possible for a man to be faithful no matter how much he loves a woman. Remove religion out of it; it is not just possible. My dad is an Abiriba man, He was the first son and he was married to someone from Mbaise. You can imagine that. I watched my parents’ drama unfold in front of me. I sometimes blackmailed him at a point when I caught him with a woman (laughter) but I never squealed to my mum. Why should I tell when I was busy collecting money from the man? (laughter) . I cannot tell you how many times I caught him with girlfriends because I’m only running my mouth now that he is dead.My mum was strict. She was always cancelling stuff from the list we brought from school. It was what she approved that my dad would buy. I would wait and just go and meet my dad in his office. I would tell him I wanted to collect money for the stuff my mother cancelled from the list and he would give me. I have not seen any man who loves a woman the way he loved my mum but if he could do that, it means love does not guarantee faithfulness. There was pressure on him to marry an Abriba woman when they were giving him a chieftaincy title but he refused. That still did not stop him from having girlfriends.
Every woman deserves a man who loves her more than she loves himIt is not the men’s fault; it is just the way they were made. Trust me, my dad is everything I want in a husband if I eventually see one. I want a man who could root for me; who could trust me when everybody is against me. I think every woman deserves a man who loves her more than she loves him. Because of the animalistic thing in man, they have tendencies to take a walk. But a woman, especially an African woman, cannot take a walk because when you are divorced whether you like it or not you are a tokunbo. Even the men that come to you feel you should be happy they are coming.
I wish my father had lived long enough to see where I am todayHe had family values. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t know a better Abiriba man than my dad. He always spoke his language to you whether you understood it or not. He was proud of his heritage. My only regret is that he is not here. I would have loved to tell him I told you so, see where I am. He didn’t believe I was strong enough for this. I’m a combination of both my parents. I want to believe I took after their strength but I don’t know whom I took the stubborn thing from.
Here’s the point she broke down and cried. We switched off our recorders in memory of Chief Nelson Jombo.My dad died at 57 but he smoked actively for 35 yearsMy father’s death is something I don’t want to talk about (sobbing). My dad is the reason I can never smoke or marry somebody who smokes. I don’t want to talk about my dad (crying). My dad didn’t die by accident. He died of bronchitis. That is what you get when you smoke for too long. He lungs were infected. In this industry, most people feel they have to smoke to be hip.I was shocked when someone called me to say they wrote that I smoke. I had a good laugh. I could do any other thing but smoking is something I will never do because it killed my dad. Those close to me that smoke don’t feel comfortable doing it around me. Smoking is not something people can give up for you. My dad was still smoking while undergoing treatment because it was an addiction. My dad died at 57 but he smoked actively for 35 years. The man smoked a major part of his life. I always argued with him not to smoke. If you presented your reasons against smoking, he would tell you he had been smoking before you were born.
I cannot accommodate a cheating husbandI can’t. My dad is the reason I see that that is the way men are created. But that does not mean I will accommodate it. I take pride in being an African woman. I can’t take the fact that someone should tell me there is nothing I can do about a cheating husband because I’m an African woman. I don’t think that should be the case. To whom much is given much is expected. I demand as much as I give. When I give you so much in a relationship, it is only logical that I demand as much. I don’t know if I can accept a man who is unfaithful. I don’t think I can accept a man who doesn’t have family values or who thinks I should be happy that he is in my life. He should be the one that is happy I’m in his life. Anybody who is going to end up with me is the winner. There is nothing saying I must get married as an African woman. I have not seen the right man. Someone can be a perfect boyfriend and not be a perfect husband. If you can get 70% on the list of what you want in a man, then you have gotten your perfect man. In a relationship, there are things you can take in a marriage and there are things you wouldn’t. The transition from being single is drastic. Most men still prefer women to sit at home and not work and I wonder why. Yet they are still attracted to women who are working. That goes a long way to tell you about men. There is no perfect man. All those people who say they are waiting for a perfect man are deceiving themselves. If there is a perfect man, there won’t be God. If you can get 70% on the list of what you want in a man, then you have gotten your perfect man.
The media and Nollywood marriagesIt is the same press that say Nollywood marriages don’t last that always ask when we will get married. The fact that somebody is on the screen does not mean the person is not human. The only difference is that everything you do is under scrutiny. It annoys me sometimes when people look at you as different from other human beings. I guess it is just one of the curses of this job. It is just that the blessings are more. People who don’t know jack about you talk about you. The junk journalists supply them with stories that are not true except the correct spelling of your name. Sometimes they get mine wrong. They spell Jombo with a ‘u’. So, you have to defend yourself to people who really know you and you wonder what you have to do with people who don’t know you. The media can only speculate about my relationships. They can never hear it from me. I know that if you want your relationship to grow, you have to keep it out of the press.
Life is one big stage and we are all actorsWhat you become in life is not about what you read in school; it is all about talent. I think all of us are actors. It is just that some of us have decided to make money with our talents. If you check out life, who you are in the presence of our kids is different from who you are in the presence of visitors. We all act at different levels of our lives. It is just that we don’t realise it.I have no regrets dumping statistics. Luckily, my dad is not alive to hear that. I don’t have regrets at all. Two of my classmates are in my employment now. One is actually my primary school classmate while the other was my classmate in secondary school. It is just about them knowing who I am from when I was born.So, it is about what you do with what you have acquired. I don’t think any knowledge gained is wasted.
My first script, Ordained, was produced eight years agoI started writing when I started acting. It was just that people did not know. My first script that was produced, Ordained, was about eight years ago. It is just that I’m mostly known as an actress. But I will not tell you how much I earn.
I am a success storyI am as successful as I can get. I think my career speaks for itself. Success is being fulfilled at what you do and in all modesty, I am a success story. As for failure, I think you cannot know success if you had not known failure. I have known failure in every area of my life. For me to get here, I must have known failure. For you to say you are successful, you must have known failure.There had been times I felt like quitting. when my career wasn’t going the way I wanted. People were telling me to go and get (another) job. There was a point I felt I was tired but I never stopped believing in myself.
I cut my dreadlocks to repackage myself for new rolesIt’s showbiz. At a time I was always getting a particular role and I needed to prove that I can act other roles. So, I cut my hair because I had dreadlocks and I totally repackaged myself. And you won’t believe it, I started playing other roles. The truth is, if producers see you in a particular role, you have to do something drastic to convince them that you can play other roles. You have to be able to look at your jobs and learn. That is why I find it funny when people say they don’t watch their own films. You must not get to a stage where you stop learning. I never stop learning. Every day is a learning process. I watch my films to learn more.
Kissing on screenI don’t think kiss on screen is real kiss. I have not really played kissing on the screen.I’m a sucker for good dialogue I’m a sucker for good dialogue. When I see good dialogue I sink into it. Being an actor is a privilege because you are able to live another life and come out of it and still be you. I had to first of all fall in love with the script. The characters I play do not affect me. Rather they teach me. When you play the role of a drug addict, you know the evil of drugs. I learn from the character I have played.
My rating of actressesMercy Johnson is drama queen, Ini Edo is charismatic, Omotola is lucky. It is not easy to be having kids and still remain on the A-list. Ramsey is a cross-breed. Emeka Ike, that is my bros now. Bimbo Akintola, she is just Bimbo. And yes, there is rivalry in the industry. It might not be on the surface but it is there.
Ini Edo and IShe is my friend and still my friend. That is the press trying to find something out of nothing. They said all kinds of things about why I was not at her wedding but the truth is i didn’t because I was working. I wasn’t released and she understands. Ini is my friend and she is still my friend. As far as friendship is concerned, you hear things about each other. I saw it in the paper and we spoke about it.Journalists make up all kinds of stories about how there is so much in-fighting in the industry. They need to make some people scapegoats. For instance that one actor ended up playing a role originally cast for another person is nothing new or unusual. I don’t think there is any actor alive who has not played somebody’s role.



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