Yemisi Odegbami,
aka May7ven, beautiful daughter of Nigerian International, Mathematical Segun
Odegbami narrated how her mother went through hell to raise her and her
siblings when her parents separated, her music career and life in London.
‘I have been singing for over 15 years, but
professionally, it’s about 10 years. I do Afro-beat, they call me the queen of
Afro-beat in the UK, even in Nigeria. I started out here in 2007 when we did
not have many female artistes’
So, why did you decide to come
back?
I decided to come
now that I feel I have done what I could in the UK as a Nigerian entertainer. I
left here at a time when there was no film or artist, but now there are a lot
of us, a lot of female artistes, big name artistes in the air. And our music is
being looked out for all over the world.
I try to keep
myself attached because it’s kind of out of sight is out of mind, no matter
what kind of music you play. So, I need to be in the system to be able to
continue to enhance or develop a bit more. The infrastructure still need work, the management
infrastructure are bad. The PR, everything still needs work. And now that the
world is looking at what we are doing, it is very important that we get it
right. So, apart from being a singer or an artiste, Iam also a business person. I have a platform in
the UK, I want to bring what I have learnt out there to Nigeria to help
entertainers. I have booked a lot of artistes from Nigeria to perform in the
UK, a lot of them, with at least 12 shows in a year. I will bring some of my
expertise to Nigeria to further develop the
entertainment industry as much as I could.
How much of your father’s
support do you get?
Now I am getting a full support, he just left when I was about 16. I wanted to
do this, he said go and study, then he kind of abandoned me to go and study.
So, I tried studying but I was always performing in the night, then running
off, sneaking to the studio. He wasn’t really supportive of that, not until I
shot my first video. I worked on about two, three jobs they paid for because it
is very expensive and I was a student, so he saw the video. I think he was with
a friend and he called me from Nigeria and said: “Yemisi! Is that you on TV?”.
I said yes dad. He said wow, that is my daughter. So, he took it seriously and
he has been pushing me to fans, he has been supportive. He does not know more
about the industry, so there is very little he can do. Now I am quite stubborn because I am artiste, I am not a famous person. I am a
proper musician. I play instruments, I have been singing, so I do not ride upon
my father’s name, only now I am telling people all about the name. He left a
great legacy, I should be proud of him. For many years I did not want to tell
anyone that my name is Yemisi Odegbami, I am a daughter of this because the
first thing they will do is oh!! She is Yemisi Odegbami, that is her dad.
Who is your role model?
Definitely, my
dad, my dad is my role model. My mother is my biggest role model. She is not
into entertainment, she knows absolutely nothing, apart from listening to my
CDs, that is her role in entertainment but she is the most selfless person I
have ever met in my life. People call themselves selfless and say their parents
are this and that, but I will say there is not anyone that has met my mum. When
you meet her, you have met peace.
Where is your mum now?
She is based in
London. She does desire to come back to Nigeria, she has been there for over 35
years. They did not divorce, they were separated for a while, then we
struggled, she raised three of us by herself. It was really hard in London but
she has come out of it and she is the most beautiful. She is so strong, you
will not even see any history of the past in her face. I get emotional when I
talk about my mother because she has gone through a lot and now she has come
out very strong so she is my big role model.
Due to that gap between your
dad and your mum, did you have anything against your dad?
For a while I
held it against him because he was famous, there was much money, there were
women, so we just thought he was here having fun. But as an adult now, I have
come to understand that things are not always as they seem, you may be on the
outside famous and all but no one knows you are crying in your small bedroom
somewhere. It has taken a long time to understand but I was a little bit angry
with my dad, that is why I grew up with this fighting spirit. I want to do
things myself, my way, no matter what happens. But you know, even adulthood
teaches you a lot, so I started to understand even when I had my own little
success in the UK.
I had my first
song that was blowing up, I had a small cop that was sitting in my car, I had
nowhere to live, I was literally living in the boot of my car and my song was
playing on the radio, and everyone was saying May7ven. This is in London,
daytime radio which is very hot, black artiste not alone the Nigerian.
So, I have done
something that was described as being the historical moments- female Nigerian
artiste being played in daytime radio, but while that was playing, everyone was
online twitting, and I was living in my car without any money. I have
understood that fame is not everything that it needs to be, people have
different issues that they need to struggle with. I think my dad is going
through his own issue that he can explain to me much later.
.
What has life taught you?
A lot, when I
think about my mother and the stuff that she has gone through in life, you
know, her hardship, her struggle. Some people put themselves first, ok I want
to be a doctor, they are going to focus on the career. They have children but
they are still very career-oriented, that is how I am. But someone meant to leave everything they
believe in marriage, she took a gamble, she just flew us to the UK, no money,
nothing because she wanted a better life for us. She wanted us to have best
education, best surroundings. She wanted everything to be different and she did
not want to be surrounded by the whole football razzmatazz, women, all that type
of things. She took a risk, that risk just ended up causing heartache and pain
and parting ways with her husband. Finding us food, with not having anywhere to
live, no money, coming out of school, so many bad things, racial abuse beyond
the league, assault. She has gone through it all, and you see her, you cannot
tell anything in her face, she is still the nicest, the most pleasant person
you will meet. It is weird to meet people like that in this life.
Source: VIVIAN ONYEBUKWA
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