Nigerian highlife singer, Chinedu Okoli, better known as Flavour N’abania, recently shared a difficult moment from his early music career. During an interview on the “In My Opinion” podcast, Flavour revealed that he was once asked to leave the stage while performing so that PSquare, the famous Nigerian music duo, could take over.

Flavour reflected on how this incident happened when he was still an up-and-coming artist. Though it was a painful experience at the time, it didn’t stop him from pursuing his passion for music. He talked about his humble beginnings, starting as a choir conductor and a drummer in church, which laid the foundation for his success.

Despite the setbacks he faced along the way, Flavour’s dedication to his craft eventually paid off, and today he is one of Nigeria’s most recognized highlife artists.

He said,

“They saw how dedicated I was and introduced me to a man who owned a music company and trained young boys,”

“Luckily for me, the day I went there, they were having rehearsals. It was the first time I saw proper music set up. I joined the band and served there for 13 years. I developed more with the band, and I later became the band leader.

“At that point, I wasn’t thinking about being Flavour or being on the spot. I never thought about all that. My dream was just about playing at events and things like that,” Flavour added.

“Things started changing when I started seeing some artistes. When I left the band, I went into the streets. That was when the game became hard. All this time, I was in a good place; the music had procedures and all, but now I was in the streets.

“Like a street musician hustling, I went to different joints to play. I could sing so many songs; I had like 5,000 songs I could sing and play to entertain people.

“We play from 8pm until 3am, but then I see these artist3s; they play for like 30 minutes, and everybody is happy, clapping for them and hailing them. And I’m wondering, ‘what is going on? Are we not same artistes?’”

He said, “I remember one day with Psqaure, when they just came out with “Temptation.’ They were promoting a show around and the promoters brought them to the spot at City Centre in Enugu.

“With that spot, I already built fans; everybody was there every weekend. No matter what was going on in Enugu, my spot was always packed.

“So the promoters brought Psquare while I was playing, and immediately Psquare came; the manager just said, ‘Hello, off that thing.’

“I switched off, passed the microphone, and went to sit. Then when Paul of Psqaure picked up the microphone and just said, ‘This na temptation’ everywhere scattered.”

Flavour added, “So I was like, It’s the same music these people are doing. I’ve been with you, and you never shouted like this. I was so cold; I was just watching. When they left, the manager just told me to carry on.

“Then it started occurring to me that these guys, the difference is that they create their sound, go to the studio, and record. That’s how it’s done. So you are just a music man.

“So I decided to change from a music man to an artiste, and that was the difficult part of it because I thought it was going to be easy. I could play, I could sing, but to create your own sound, where are you going to start from?

“The best way to go about it was to start afresh.”

This story reminds us that every successful artist faces challenges, but perseverance and staying true to your passion can lead to greatness.