Kukere crooner, Iyanya, has been in the news in recent times over a fast spreading tale that the singer has quit the Don Jazzy-owned Marvin Records. Recall that the talented and muscular music act was signed to Tripple MG Record before he crossed over to Marvin.
Meanwhile, going down memory lane, the founder of Tripple MG, Ubi Franklin, has revealed how difficult it was for him to get Iyanya to work with him and he ended up lying to track him down.
In an interview with MTV Base, Franklin, said he chased Iyanya for several months before he was eventually lucky to meet him to strike a working relationship. He further revealed it was another round of effort to complete a job after they eventually reached an agreement to work together, adding that it was at this point he had to play a fast one on Iyanya to get the job completed.
Ubi said, “I chased Iyanya for over six months trying to convince him that we should work together. Then, I finally met him in Abuja and I walked up to him, grabbed his hand and asked him, ‘Do you know me?’ He looked at me and said, ‘No.’ I told him I was that guy who had been calling him for months. He then started apologising and all of that. We got back to Lagos and began work on “kukere,” but we did not finish it before Iyanya left and it became difficult to track him
down again.
“In fact, it got to a point that I had to lie to him that there was a man who gave us a show for N500, 000 after I played “kukere” to him, but I told him the song was not finished and he asked that we finished the song before we could cash the cheque. It was at that point Iyanya showed up to wrap up the job.”
Ubi also revealed that the longing to see Iyanya succeed always made him cry whenever he was denied basic opportunity in the music industry, at the inception of his career. He recalled a particular incident where Iyanya was bounced, but he had to confront the organiser of the event to assure them they were going to need Iyanya in due course.
“I remember when Tiwa Savage just released a song, Oyinatumo, and she was celebrated at the industry’s night and Iyanya was bounced, it made me cry. I went to the organiser of the event, Mathew, and told him, ‘You see this boy, you will look for him. Six months later, Iyanya’s Kukere became the hit and these same guys came looking for him,” he said.
