One of the traits of creatives is having the constant urge to explore the depth of their talents. This could have been the case when some of our Nollywood movie stars who had made reputable impacts in the film industry decided it was time to try something new.
The music industry in Nigeria was just beginning to boom and some made attempts to switch to the industry which was experiencing, Some actresses like Genevieve and Omotola used music as a last resort as they were at that time, blacklisted by marketers who felt they were unnecessarily expensive to hire.
But clearly, music wasn’t natural for them. Though some even released albums, their career in music came to a natural end.
Here is a list of Nollywood stars who once delved into the music industry;
- Tonto Dikeh
Tonto Wigo Charity Dikeh popularly known as Tonto Dikeh is a Nigerian actress, singer, and philanthropist. She is one of the prominent Nollywood stars who has been in the movie industry for a very long time. Dikeh dabbled in music in the year 2012 and by 2014 she was signed to the D’banj led DB Records. Tonto was released a couple of songs, some of these songs were ‘Sugar Rush’ featuring D’Banj, ‘Hi’, ‘its Ova’.
2.Omotola Jalade
Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, popularly known as Omosexy is a Nigerian actress, singer, philanthropist and ambassador. The Nollywood award winning artiste pursued her music career in 2005 with the release of an album titled GBA. The album produced singles like ‘Naija Lowa’ and ‘The Things You Do To Me’.
3. Genevieve Nnaji
Genevive Nnaji is an award-winning actress, producer, and director. genevieve is one of the strongest personality in the film industry as her recent directorial debut ‘Lion Heart‘ was acquired by online streaming service Netflix marking it the first Netflix original film from Nigeria. In 2004, Nnaji signed a recording contract with Ghanaian record label EKB Records and released her an album One Logologo Line. Some of her recognised single, ‘No More‘.
4. Jim Iyke
James Ikechukwu Esomugha, popularly known as Jim Iyke began his own music label, Untamed Records in 2012 and released the album, ‘Who I Am’ featuring some of Nigeria’s top musicians such as 2Baba and Sound Sultan.
5. Desmond Elliot
Desmond Oluwashola Elliot, popularly known as Desmond Elliot, is an award-winning Nigerian actor, director, and politician. Honourable Elliot delved into music with the agenda to make it in the music industry but that didn’t turn out positive. Demond was into Gospel Music, and he released only one song titled ‘I am so glad that Jesus loves me’.