Entertainment Nigerian Musical Groups & Alliances That Broke-Up

In this piece, we will run through Nigerian musical groups that disintegrated for several reasons ranging from individual ambitions, unexpected death, distrust, financial disagreements to greed and several other factors.

Within that once-happy framework of Nigerian musical groups lies the bitter truth that many of such alliances have been torn to shreds but of course, there will be exceptions; as we have in cases of musical groups where a key member dies.

Below are Nigerian musical groups and alliances that eventually came to an abrupt end:

Styl-Plus
The trio of Shifi Omoefe, Zeal Onyecheme and Tunde Akinsanmi popularly called Styl-Plus, who hit Nigeria’s music scene in 2002 with the smash singles, Runaway and Olufunmi went their separate ways after nine years of doing music. To understand the strength of Styl-Plus, it is perhaps important to remind ourselves that the group’s lead single ‘Imagine That’ (off its official debut album) was prominently used at the pioneer edition of Big Brother Nigeria. Sadly, a deadly combination of selfish ego, fear of the unknown and dwindling musical fortunes, contributed to the group’s demise.
Sources close to the group revealed that for a long time, members of the group knew their brand was no longer formidable but were not willing to go down without a fight. "It was only their first album that made an impact. The second album was barely felt and the other singles they dropped just didn’t make any impact. These guys knew the show was over long ago but they were scared of letting go. But now the sad truth has hit them that the brand was dead, they all decided to go their separate ways,” the source said.
Another source affirms that the real reason the group fell apart was because of pride: “They were so popular when Olufunmi hit the airwaves and they were everywhere... Repeated attempts to get them to relocate to Lagos where the action was, failed. Some members wanted to relocate but one of them was into oil and gas and government contracts and refused and that is the real reason Styl-Plus broke up. Zeal felt bad but there was little he could do about it.


Platashun Boyz
This group had three members; 2Face (Innocent Ujah Idibia), Faze (Chibuzor Oji) and Blackface (Ahmedu Augustine Obiabo) and at a point in their lives, they collectively rode the Nigerian music scene as if it were a wild stallion - They went down as one of Nigeria's most successful musical groups and the reasons were glaring.
There was a stage in their musical progression that fans foresaw them dominating the music scene for decades but this melodious projection was cut short when the group fell apart and its members pursued their solo careers.
Plantashun Boyz released two albums, Body and Soul (in 2000) and 'Sold Out (in 2003).'
After the break-up, Faze sustained the release of hit singles long enough to enjoy an extended spell of fame and fortune before his sudden exit from the music scene. Blackface released quite a number of singles but his efforts weren't enough to hold the interest of Nigerian music fans and it didn't come as a surprise when he took a bow and left via the back door.
For 2Face, the story is different as he had surpassed all possible expectations with a profile that continues to soar over the years. He's presently one of Nigeria's most celebrated singers and seen as a role model by thousands of budding acts and even established names.
Plantashun Boyz attempted a reunion album titled 'Plan B' and popular marketer, T-Joe spearheaded this project but the result was a monumental disaster.

Shina Peters and Segun Adewale
In 1977, Segun Adewale and Shina Peters pulled out of Prince Adekunle Western Brothers Band to form a group of their own, which was christened 'Shina Adewale and the Superstars International.' The band became popular during this period. Adewale built an audience at home.
In 1980, after releasing several albums, Adewale and Peters parted ways, each with his own vision of how to take Juju music to its next stage. Adewale formed a new band of 20 musicians, once again called the 'Superstars.' Releasing several albums in short order, the band began to realize Adewale's new ideas. By their fifth album, Endurance, Adewale had dubbed his sound "Yo-Pop" (meaning 'Yoruba pop') and was blending musical ideas of Reggae, Funk, and the old-fashioned Nigerian dance style of Highlife into the basic Juju sound.
Shina went on to form his own band 'Sir Shina Peters and His International Stars.' Their first album release Ace (Afro-Juju Series 1) in 1989 went double platinum and was the career breakthrough which catapulted Sir Shina Peters back into the limelight. 'Ace' was a musical fusion between Juju and Afro beat. The second album release Shinamania (Afro-Juju Series 2) went on to further prove that Shina Peters' band was on the verge of changing and revolutionizing the Juju Music scene in Africa.

Zule Zoo
Ibrahim Al-Hassan and Mike, both from Benue State made up this group and were quite unique in their musical delivery and dance steps. Zule Zoo became popular for its perfect blend of African sound and exciting dance. Ibrahim and Mike actually started as professional dancers in 1992 in Benue state before taking up singing professionally when they relocated to Lagos in 1996.
The group hit the peak of its popularity with its controversial hit single titled 'Kerewa' but the song was banned by Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) for its supposed lewd contents. After they both decided to go solo, the group died a natural death.

X-Appeal
X-Appeal was a musical group with two members; Jazzman Olofin (Aolumuyiwa Olofinkuade) and Lexzy Doo (Adeyemi Michael Adeleke). They met at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) and formed the group X-Appeal. The year 2000 witnessed their album release titled 'Bo Mess,' which was a hit. After some time, they eventually parted ways and pursued their solo careers.
Jazzman thrilled with his hit singles like 'Raise Tha Roof' and 'Sexy' while Lexzy enjoyed his share of fame with the song, 'Baby Skeske' but their status as rave of the moment was was cut short after a few years.

Trybesmen
This was the group that some knew as Da Trybe; a Nigerian Hip Hop group. Eldee, Kaboom and Freestyle were the three original members of the group and they met for the first time in 1994 in Lagos. Other members include 2Shotz, Freestyle, Sasha and Dr. SID. Trybesmen released its first album, L.A.G Style Volume 1 in 1999 and it was well received. Other hit singles include 'Shake Body' and 'Trybal Marks.'
The group eventually fell apart and to explain what was responsible, we will share Dr. SID's explanation as he was a member of the group. He said: "Freestyle wanted to do his own thing. ELdee had put so much into the music industry and was not getting anything in return. So ELdee went back to America. Freestyle did his own thing and I went back to dental school. Everybody decided to do their own thing. Sasha and 2shot eventually moved to Storm Records. ELdee had a management deal with Storm Records, KB started work as an engineer, and Timi went back to dental school. He has finished now. We are still very close and we keep contact with each other. When ELdee left, KB, 2shot and I actually tried to keep things going. But everybody was already set to go to their separate ways. So it was difficult to keep the group together. In 2004 when I met D‘banj and Don Jazzy in London and we became friends. When we got back in 2006, Mo Hits Records was already very successful and they were planning to expand the record label. ELdee was still abroad and Don Jazzy was practically the hottest producer in the country. Besides, we had a good relationship. Naturally I had to join them. So far, I think it was a good decision.

Resonance
The group was adored at a national level and won awards in Lagos while having fun in other states but Esther ‘E-Star’ Abigbo and Uche ‘Gucheano’ Ozoigbo who made up the group threw it all away when they decided to break-up in August 2007. It is hard to state precisely what led to this break-up as the members remained hushed on details.
Rumours however had it that Gucheano was eternally upset that Esther was seemingly taking all the group's credit. Resonance became popular when the video of Chinwe Ike of the duo’s album of same title hit the airwaves. The seven-track album was released by Resonance Records and marketed by Ahbu Ventures.

Junior & Pretty
The group was made up of Ikechukwu Azike (Junior) and Pretty Okafor (Pretty) and was known for hit singles like ‘Monika’ and ‘Bolanle (a story of how junior fell in love with the pastors daughter)’ but the group met its end when Junior died on February 2, 2005 as a result of injuries sustained in a power bike accident. They were the first artistes to start show promotions through the Benson & Hedges road shows

KUSH
The quartet, Lara George, Emem Ema, TY Bello and Dapo Toromino formed an inspiring musical group. Members of KUSH met at the Rock Solid Choir in the University of Lagos and developed a working chemistry strong enough to form the group. Their debut album titled 'The Experience,' was a hit before the group split in 2004. They were signed to a United States of America-based record label, DKG Music.
As solo singer, Lara George did well with her debut album, which includes the Ijoba Orun track among others, while TY Bello, who is now a professional photographer, lived up to her billings with the song, Greenland. Emem on her own, also released a track titled Greenlight, but was short of being a hit.

Maintain
Known as the boys from Ibadan, the trio of Olu, Tolu and Big Bamo rocked the Nigerian music scene in the late 90s as members of the music group, Maintain. Between 1998 and 2004, the group released six albums before splitting in 2005. With the songs, 'I Catch Cold' and 'Nibo La Wa Gbe Lo,' Maintain was obviously one of the fans’ favourites until the break-up.
After a break so long that fans thought it was over, Olu kicked off his solo career with a monster track titled 'Yahooze,' which broke almost every possible record. Olu went on to release other hit singles like 'Nawty' and a few others. Big Bamo also tried to stage a come-back with a few songs, which never really saw the light of day.

Mo’Hits
There was a time when Mo'Hits rode the Nigerian music scene like a colossus and the brains behind it were music producer and singer, Don Jazzy and celebrated singer, D'banj. The success of this group is rivaled only by the shocking break-up it suffered; a break-up that many will never fully recover from. Till date, the break-up remains a topical subject of debate perhaps because it came at a time when doors of international success were being flung open for the group. This was the group that also produced artistes like Wande Coal, D'Prince, Dr. SID, K-Switch and hype-man, Special ED.
During the period the group was intact, Don Jazzy was its President while D'banj was its Vice president. D'banj went on to launch his DB Records while Don Jazzy floated a new label called Mavin records with the latter signing Tiwa Savage.

KC Presh
When KC Presh (Kcee and Presh) won the maiden edition of Star Quest talent competition, they went a step further to prove their mettle as entertainers. Unlike many others who failed to prove themselves after winning talent hunt programmes, KC Presh was able to produce a couple of hits which include Sio Nkpo, Senge Menge and Shokori Bobo. Their debut album, 'Make a Noise,' was released in 2005.
The group however eventually joined the list of defunct group when Kcee and presh fell apart. Both kicked off their solo careers with Kcee glaringly emerging the more successful of the duo.

Infinity
Riding on the popularity of its hit single, 'Olori Oko,' the infinity musical group that consisted of Akinbode Kehinde, NNogo Samson, Okougbo Joseph, Sunny Steve and David Thomas Adebiyi looked unstoppable but like the case of Remedies, Mo'Hits and others, history once again, repeated itself. The breakup of the group may have come as a surprise to some at the time, but those who knew the Infinity story from the very beginning, will tell you that it is not new to the group. Joseph, a member of the group says the exit of Kehinde Olumide Akinbode (Kenny Kore) and David Akintayo Thomas (David Kanjji) at different times didn’t come as a surprise.

Kentro World
This was arguably Nigeria's most flamboyant musical group and had Olu of the 'Maintain' fame steering the ship as its Captain. Prominent members of the group include Bondo Krazy, Da Fols, Freaky T and I, Folarin with Puffy t as Head producer. However, Folarin, who sang alongside Mr. Olu Maintain and joined Olu Maintain shortly after his Yahoozee’s hit album in London, once confirmed that the band, Kentro World, was no longer under the supervision of Olu Maintain. The reason, according to Folarin was that the team led by Folarin had since opened a new chapter of the band totally deleting Olu Maintain’s name as a partaker.
In the years that followed, not much was heard from Kentro World.

Lagbaja and Ego Ogbaro
This was not a musical group but it functioned like one - Ego Ogbaro nee Iheanacho was back- up artiste for famous Nigerian musician Lagabja Bisade Ologunde. She became famous for 'Never far away;' a duet with Lagbaja which was released in 2005 and won Lagbaja a Channel O award in 2006. Why they broke-up after 10 years of a creative working relationship came as a surprise to fans across the globe. Ego hinged the split on her inability to combine her studies with her musical career.

Alapomeji
This was more of a record label and less of a group but it was hard to place what the head honcho, 9ice (born Abolore Akande) planned to do with this team. This team has 9ice, Ajayi Brovas, Seriki, Kayefi, Snow and Wise as its members. However, the fall out of 9ice and his manager, Mode marked the beginning of the end of this group. 9ice moved on with his career while the other members of the unit; all budding acts were scattered into the wind like a bunch of dove's feathers. 9ice decision to venture into politics formed the final nail that hammered the coffin shut.

Wizkid and Banky W
Like a musical god-father, Banky W introduced Wizkid to the world on the EME musical platform but several years down the line, Wizkid grew from being an up and coming artiste to a globally recognised singer with awards from different continents of the world to prove this.
The once cordial relationship began to have cracks and Wizkid slowly edged his way out of the label to form the Starboy musical dynasty.

Remedies
Once upon a time, precisely in the 90s, Nigerian musical group, Remedies was a household name. Not many musical groups could compete with Tony Tetuila, Idris (now Eedris Abdulkareem) and Eddie who made up the group. Today, the group is dead and only spoken of in past tense. In the beginning, Eddie was invited to the Raypower studios to sing. He chose to go with Tony Tetuila and Eedris. They sang some songs, all composed by Eddie and when asked for the name of the group, Eddie coined it as 'Remedies' and the group ran with the name. Over the years, they delivered amazing ballads and songs their fans loved. One of such songs was ‘Omode Meta Shere.’ Eddie writes the songs, Eedris rapped and Tony Tetuila was the rhyme maker and sideliner. Things looked picture perfect with Kennis music as the official label owned by Ogungbe brothers and Dayo Adeneye. Within the twinkle of an eye, Eddie Remedy fell in love with and married Kenny St. Brown Ogungbe. The marriage was beautiful and a baby girl even joined the family. However, trouble started when Eddie began having problems with his wife. Unsurprisingly, the crash of the marriage and death of the group coincided. As expected, it was an avalanche of ugly revelations with allegations and counter allegations and that marked the end of Remedies as the three artistes pursued solo careers.
Eddie released a song titled ‘Anya Bi’ ago’ and fans thought he would follow up with other lovely songs but that marked the end of his musical career. Multiple sources reveal that things got tough for the singer; he allegedly relocated to a one-room apartment in Ogba and was spotted more than a few times on commercial motorcycles (before they were banned on major routes of course). His attempt to reconcile with his wife also proved futile.
Tony Tetuila fared much better with lots of singles to his credit and surprisingly, even threw out an album. Some of his biggest songs as a solo artiste are ‘You Don Hit My Car,’ ‘It’s Morning Time,’ ‘In Love With Two Women (with Ghanaian group VIP)’ and a host of others.
He allegedly celebrated a decade of his singing career in London; a party which was reported to have flopped on a massive scale.
The singer turned politician was also alleged to have impregnated his London-based girlfriend, shortly after his fiancé delivered a second baby for him; an incident suspected to have inspired his song, ‘In Love With Two Women.’
Eedris Abdulkareem enjoyed a good run with hits like ‘Mr. Lecturer,’ 'Oko Ashewo’ and ‘Nigeria Jaga Jaga (which got him into trouble with Obasanjo)’. Just when it looked like he could do no wrong, he got into a nasty brawl with American rapper, 50 Cents and also got into the bad books of organisers of major events in Nigeria and like a mere mortal who chooses to fight gods of Olympus, his career crashed. He terminated his contract with Kennis Music to run his own thing but this never saw the light of day. He however returned years later like a prodigal child to Kennis Music but things just failed to pick to the same level it was before he hit the steady decline.

#PlantashunBoyz #Remedies #Infinity #MoHits #Lagbaja

Alapomeji.jpg D'banj and Don jazzy.jpg eldee.jpg Ibro Zule Zoo.JPG Infinity.jpg Jazzman Olofin (1).jpg Junior and Pretty.jpg KC Presh.jpg Kentro World.jpg KUSH.jpg Lagbaja and Ego.jpg Mo'Hits.jpg Olu maintain.jpg Plantashun Boiz.jpg Pretty Okafor.jpg Remedies (1).jpg Shina Peters and Segun Adewale 1.jpg Shina Peters.jpg Trybesmen.jpg Styl-Plus.jpeg
 
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