Oby Onyioha

Oby Onyioha, one of the doyens of the Nigerian music industry, first burst onto the Nigerian music scene with the chart bursting I Want to Feel Your Love album that took the Nigerian music world by storm in the 1980’s. This was followed by an equally big hit Break It around the same period, all this at a time when disco and break-dance music was considered the exclusive domain of western artistes. Its novelty and unprecedented release catapulted her into being the singular pioneer of the disco and break-dance music in Nigeria at a time when there was a paucity of the genre. It was new; it was refreshing, more especially as the tracks were sprinkled with some memorable African songs. She became the first Nigerian female scholastic achiever to venture into the music business, a vocation that had hitherto been denigrated as a profession for the ‘academically challenged’ female. She therefore played a big part in helping to break that perception of the Nigerian female musician. In addition to recordings in Western- themed music, she has rediscovered her heritage in African music, a genre she now pursues with equal vigour, dedication and professionalism.