Legendry singer and actress, Onyeka Onwenu has reportedly died at the age of 72.
She was said to have died on Tuesday night at the Reddington Hospital in Lagos after slumping at the birthday party of Mrs Stella Okoli.
TheNiche reported that an eyewitness who was at the party confirmed the news.
“It is very sad. Onyeka Onwenu just performed at the birthday of Mrs. Stella Okoli today (Tuesday, July 30, 2024), and after performing, she slumped.
“She was taken to Reddington Hospital and she couldn’t make it,” the eyewitness said.
However, the deceased’s family has yet to announce her death as of press time.
Onwenu will be remembered for her music albums such as In The Morning Light and Dancing In The Sun.
She also featured in the Half of a Yellow Sun and Lions Heart, among others.
Nicknamed “Elegant Stallion” by the Nigerian press for her elegance and dexterity on the stage, Onwenu who was born 31 January 1952 was not only a singer/songwriter, she was an actress, human rights and social activist, journalist, politician, and former X Factor series judge.
The one-time Chairperson of the Imo State Council for Arts and Culture was in 2013 appointed Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer of the National Centre for Women Development.
Onwenu hails from Arondizuogu in Ideato North, Imo State, southeastern Nigeria, but was raised in Port Harcourt, the capital city of Rivers State, Nigeria.
She is the youngest daughter of Nigerian educationist and politician D. K. Onwenu, who died when she was four years old in an autocrash a week before his appointment as Minister for Education, leaving his widow, Hope, to raise five children alone after her husband’s family denied her access to his property.
The iconic singer holds a BA in International Relations and Communication from Wellesley College, Massachusetts, and an MA in Media Studies from The New School for Social Research, New York.
She worked for the United Nations as a tour guide before returning to Nigeria in 1980 to complete her mandatory one-year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) with the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), in Lagos, Nigeria.
In 1984, she wrote and presented the internationally acclaimed BBC/NTA documentary Nigeria: A Squandering of Riches which became the definitive film about corruption in Nigeria, as well as the intractable Niger Delta agitation for resource control and campaign against environmental degradation in the oil rich region of Nigeria.
A former member of the NTA board, she has also worked as a TV presenter, hosting the shows Contact (1988) and Who’s On? (1993) both on NTA Network.
Onwenu was originally a secular artist, but made the transition to gospel music in the 90s, and most of her songs are self-penned.
She continued to write and sing about issues such as health (HIV/AIDS), peace and mutual coexistence, respect for women’s rights, and the plight of children. She began her recording career in 1981 while still with the NTA, releasing the album For the Love of You, a pop album which featured an orchestral cover of Johnny Nash’s “Hold Me Tight”, produced by Berkley Jones.
Her second album was Endless Life, produced by Sonny Okosun, and included another cover – the Everley Brothers’ “Walk Right Back”. Both records were released under the EMI label.
Onwenu’s first album with Polygram, In The Morning Light, was released in 1984. Recorded in London, it featured the track “Masterplan” written by close friend Tyna Onwudiwe who had previously contributed to Onwenu’s BBC documentary and subsequently sang back-up vocals on the album.
In 1986, she released One Love which contained an updated version of the song “(In the) Morning Light from the previous album. Another song, “You and I”, was re-recorded for the 2001 film Conspiracy starring Nkem Owoh and Onwenu herself.
For the 1988 album Dancing In The Sun, Onwenu adopted a more Afrocentric sound and collaborated with veteran jùjú artist Sunny Ade on the track “Madawolohun (Let Them Say)”. This was the first of three songs the pair worked on together; the other two – “Choices” and “Wait For Me” – centred on family planning, and were endorsed by the Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria who used “Choices” in their PSA.
Dancing In The Sun, Onwenu’s final release on Polygram, was dedicated to Winnie Mandela, the subject of a song of the same name which Onwenu performed live when Nelson Mandela and his wife visited Nigeria in 1990 following his release from prison.
Onwenu diverted to Benson and Hedges Music in 1992 and released the self-titled Onyeka!, her only album with the label, after which she made the transition to Christian/gospel music. Her latest collection, “Inspiration for Change,” focused on the need for an attitudinal change in Nigeria.
She is in partnership with Paris-based La Cave Musik, headed by a Nigerian cultural entrepreneur, Onyeka Nwelue and a UK-based Jungle Entertainment Ventures, headed by musicologist David Evans-Uhegbu. La Cave Musik is set to release her collection titled “Rebirth of a Legend”. In recognition of her contribution to music and arts in Nigeria, she has been celebrated by professionals like Mahmood Ali-Balogun, Laolu Akins, Charles O’Tudor, and former PMAN president Tony Okoroji among others in the arts industry in Nigeria
In 2000, Onwenu protested against her former employer NTA over their refusal to pay royalties on her songs (NTA 2 Channel 5 had used “Iyogogo”, a track from the Onyeka! album, in station idents without asking her permission). After then-director general Ben Murray-Bruce blacklisted her from transmission, she embarked on a hunger strike outside the station’s premises.
Her activism attracted widespread support from various artists, including Charly Boy, who lambasted Nigeria’s reluctance to pay royalties when songs are broadcast on television and radio. NTA resolved to settle the issue amicably but denied barring Onwenu from appearing on their channels. The protest was called off after six days when Onwenu and NTA came to an arrangement regarding royalties.
Though very closed about her personal life, the ace singer and actress in her memoir titled ‘My Father’s Daughter’ revealed that she got married to a Yoruba Muslim in 1984 and the union produced two sons named Tijani Ogunlende and Ibrahim Ogunlende. Ibrahim later changed his name to Abraham.
Popularly addressed simply as Onyeka, the now late icon in the autobiography, revealed how she fell in love decades ago and how the union produced her two sons — Tijani and Ibrahim.
