I Was Just 13 Years Old When My Father Died – Singer, Wunmi Obe Talks About Her Late Father 39 Years After

0
4139
Wunmi Obe
Want create site? With Free visual composer you can do it easy.
Wunmi Obe
Wunmi Obe

Right now, the Aboderin family is in one happy mood. It is the 30th memorial Anniversary of the death of late Chief James Olubunmi Aboderin. So, members of his immediate family are celebrating him. So also members of his larger family.

This is because late Chief James Olubunmi Aboderin was a very great man in his life time. He was a mega businessman with a flourishing business empire that spanned the whole gamut of human activity. One of his businesses has outlived him till today – that is The Punch Newspaper. So what sort of a man was he in his lifetime? One of his children is singer, Wunmi Obe, the wife of Tunde Obe.

 

What is it like remembering your father 30 years after

Oh! It feels nice. It brings back old memories. What we are basically doing this time around, 30 years later is celebrating his life and his legacy. A lot of the things my father had put in place to the glory of God we have been bale to continue from where he left off. Things that maybe were not directly started by him, but things that he had interest in such as music, sports, philanthropy, printing, publishing and fashion. In one way or the other his children have managed to continue from where he left off.

 

Not many people in my generation knew your dad well. Yes, the older generation did. Can you attempt to describe him?

I was 13 when my father died. But I knew him to be very dynamic person. He had his fingers in so many pies. And so many fields. He had 2 record labels. He had  a football team. He had a dance group. And there was printing and publishing with PUNCH. He even had a Happy Home Magazine also, which annually they used to do a fashion show, they used to do fashion exhibition. I remember the supported Silverbird when they started bringing foreign artistes into the country. He was into that as well.

In all of these, he was a Chartered accountant. He was just somebody who was very creative. He was such a dynamic person and he was able to express himself. He was a trailblazer. He was ahead of his time. A lot of things people are doing today my father did way back then. He was thinking way ahead of his time. A lot of people copied him while some took a bit from what he did.

 

What were the prevailing influences around him at that time that made him turn out the way he did

To begin with, his mother, late Janet Alatede was a very rich, wealthy successful textile merchant at that time in Ibadan. He grew up under this circumstances. He was born into this kind of home. She was the wealthiest textile trader in Ibadan. And of course, that business acumen would have likely come from there.

You know generally the Aboderin family are a very creative people without being immodest. It is in the blood. For him, it was just like nothing was impossible. You dream dreams and make them come through. If he had an interest in something he just went for it. He was able to make a success out of everything.

 

How did he influence you? was there any direct influence

Yes, I would say so, because I grew up knowing a man who really loved music. He had two record labels – Skylark Records and Lagos International Records. After school we would come to Punch and watch the Skylark dancers rehearse. That was t eh dance group. He was very close to late Uncle Steve Rhodes.

He helped to promote Steve Rhodes Voices. All these we saw. He was organizing fashion shows at National Theatre. Happy Home Exhibition where he used to bring in models from the UK. He studied abroad. That was part of the influence. He did his Accountancy abroad in the UK.

Wunmi and husband, Tunde
Wunmi and husband, Tunde

When he came back he had plans to set up his own TV station. His plan was to set up the first privately owned TV station, even back then. He believed his opportunities had no boundary. Growing up with him influenced me. I was going to concerts with him. I used to attend all those concerts he was organizing. I watched the fashion shows. I saw the Skylark Dancers perform. I saw people like Xtisty Essien-Ibokwe of blessed memory. I saw her grow, get married. I saw her release that her Omomi Seun Rere ti a dara album, which my father released under Lagos International Records. Ordinarily records come in black then. My father did her in green, lime green, transparent. It was attractive, you will want to own it because it was green.

He was always thinking outside the box. What else can I do that no one else is doing. That has definitely affected me because I try to think along those lines like what should I do that no one else is doing. I never want to be the run of the mil. I want to be different. Most of the time, that has helped me.

 

What did he say when you told him you wanted to be a singer

He supported me. When I told him I wanted to go into music I was about 12 and I already knew what I wanted to do at that time. Most parents at that point in time would have said “over my dead body”. They would have said you can be lawyer, doctor, engineer, but not singer. My father said no problem. You can do music, feel free to do music, but just make sure you get an education first. That way you will always have something to fall back on.

That was his only condition. He went ahead to explain to me how to do an audition, that you must always make your impression within the 1st 30 seconds. He gave us all the tips and what to do. That is how much he encouraged us. The reigning producer at that time was Lemmy Jackson. My father introduced me to him, maybe with a view to Lemmy helping me later on if I decided to seek his help.

But my father passed on before all that happened. So far back as age 12 I got my father’s blessing and I got a lot of encouragement.

 

Can you recollect how you felt when you heard the news of his death

My mother used to tease me in Yoruba many years afterwards that My Daughter who never rejected or turn down food could not eat when she heard the news of her father’s death. They brought me back home from school that day and I recollect my mother just calling me aside and telling me my dad had just passed on. I was confused because I didn’t realize that his illness was that bad. The only thing I realized was they said his leg was worrying him that was all I knew. I was 13. I was very, very upset too. My instinctive reaction was, there was no need for me to cry, after all me and daddy we understand ourselves. When I go into the room and lock myself in there he will come and talk to me and tell me what happened and why he did what he did. And I remember myself actually going into to the room upstairs to the master bed room, while everybody was downstairs, I locked myself in the room and I remember sitting and there, and I said I am waiting. Oooo Daddy come and explain to me why you did what you did oooooo. I sat there for a long time until somebody knocked on the door. I stood up and I said ok, daddy I will come back and talk to you.

Later on, everything just hit home when I saw  a lot of people around us. It was like Wunmi, this man is not going to answer you so you had better move on. That was how devastating it was. It was really sad.

 

When you lo

Wunmi
Wunmi

ok back 30 years now how do you feel

I am very proud and pleased of my pedigree, my lineage, that it was from his loins that I came. The Aboderin name is a name that has opened doors for me in so many ways, even while growing up. When I walk into a place and I say who I am the attitude changes, and sometimes you get special treatment people view you differently, even till now.

A lot of things he did I didn’t realize then until after he died that people began to tell me he did this and that in his lifetime. Oh, you are Olu Aboderin’s daughter. He did this for me. He bought me my first car. He built me a house. It is like different people different things. That was one lesson I learnt from his life to be nice to people. I would want people, when I am gone, to see my children and say ahh, your mother did this and that for me in her life time.

 

Culled from City people Magazine 

Did you find apk for android? You can find new Free Android Games and apps.

LEAVE A REPLY

1 × five =