{"id":113538,"date":"2024-07-31T07:01:12","date_gmt":"2024-07-31T06:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=113538"},"modified":"2024-07-31T07:01:12","modified_gmt":"2024-07-31T06:01:12","slug":"breaking-onyeka-onwenu-is-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/breaking-onyeka-onwenu-is-dead\/","title":{"rendered":"Breaking: Onyeka Onwenu is dead"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Music maestro, Ms. Onyeka Onwenu is dead. Born on January 31,1952, she was aged 72 years.<\/div>\n
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\nShe was said to have died at the Reddington Hospital in Lagos after slumping at the birthday party of Mrs. Stella Okoli.<\/p>\n

Ms. Onwenu performed at the 80th birthday party of Mrs. Okoli, a pharmacist, and founder of Emzor pharmaceutical manufacturing company in Lagos.<\/p>\n

A guest at the party who spoke to a source said they thought it was all a joke.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have never seen anything like this before. She had just come down from the stage after performing energetically and admirably as always. And went to her seat where she slumped. It is still like a dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another eyewitness who was also at the party who confirmed the sad news to said: \u201cIt is very sad. Onyeka Onwenu just performed at the birthday of Mrs. Stella Okoli today, and after performing, she slumped.\u00a0She was taken to Reddington Hospital and she couldn\u2019t make it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another source who was among the people that rushed her to the hospital said, \u201cApparently, she had a heart attack. The doctor has advised that the body should be kept until later this morning. It is unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Onyeka was a singer, songwriter, actress, human rights and social activist, journalist, politician, and former X Factor series judge.<\/p>\n

Dubbed the \u201cElegant Stallion\u201d by the Nigerian press, she is a former chairperson of the Imo State Council for Arts and Culture.<\/p>\n

In 2013 she was appointed the Executive Director\/Chief Executive Officer of the National Centre for Women Development.<\/p>\n

Onwenu hailed from Arondizuogu, a town in Ideato North, Imo State, but was raised in Port Harcourt, the capital city of Rivers State.<\/p>\n

She was the youngest daughter of Nigerian educationist and politician D. K. Onwenu, who died when she was four years old in an auto crash a week before his appointment as Minister for Education, leaving his widow, Hope, to raise five children alone.<\/p>\n

Onwenu possessed a BA in International Relations and Communication from Wellesley College, Massachusetts, and an MA in Media Studies from The New School for Social Research, New York.<\/p>\n

She worked for the United Nations as a tour guide before returning to Nigeria in 1980 to complete her mandatory one-year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) with the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), in Lagos, Nigeria.<\/p>\n

As an NTA employee, Onwenu made an impact as a newsreader and reporter. In 1984, she wrote and presented the internationally acclaimed BBC\/NTA documentary \u201cNigeria: A Squandering of Riches,\u201d which became the definitive film about corruption in Nigeria, as well as the intractable Niger Delta agitation for resource control and campaign against environmental degradation in the oil rich region of Nigeria.<\/p>\n

A former member of the NTA board, she has also worked as a TV presenter, hosting the shows Contact (1988) and Who\u2019s On? (1993) both on NTA Network.<\/p>\n

Music<\/p>\n

Originally a secular artist, Onwenu made the transition to gospel music in the 90s, and most of her songs are self-penned. She continued to write and sing about issues such as health (HIV\/AIDS), peace and mutual coexistence, respect for women\u2019s rights, and the plight of children.<\/p>\n

She began her recording career in 1981 while still with the NTA, releasing the album For the Love of You, a pop album which featured an orchestral cover of Johnny Nash\u2019s \u201cHold Me Tight\u201d, produced by Berkley Jones. Her second album was Endless Life, produced by Sonny Okosun, and included another cover \u2013 the Everley Brothers\u2019 \u201cWalk Right Back\u201d. Both records were released under the EMI label.<\/p>\n

Onwenu\u2019s first album with Polygram, In The Morning Light, was released in 1984. Recorded in London, it featured the track \u201cMasterplan\u201d written by close friend Tyna Onwudiwe who had previously contributed to Onwenu\u2019s BBC documentary and subsequently sang back-up vocals on the album.<\/p>\n

In 1986, she released One Love which contained an updated version of the song \u201c(In the) Morning Light from the previous album. Another song, \u201cYou and I\u201d, was re-recorded for the 2001 film Conspiracy starring Nkem Owoh and Onwenu herself.<\/p>\n

For the 1988 album Dancing In The Sun, Onwenu adopted a more Afrocentric sound and collaborated with veteran j\u00f9j\u00fa artist Sunny Ade on the track \u201cMadawolohun (Let Them Say)\u201d. This was the first of three songs the pair worked on together; the other two \u2013 \u201cChoices\u201d and \u201cWait For Me\u201d \u2013 centred on family planning, and were endorsed by the Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria who used \u201cChoices\u201d in their PSA.<\/p>\n

Dancing In The Sun, Onwenu\u2019s final release on Polygram, was dedicated to Winnie Mandela, the subject of a song of the same name which Onwenu performed live when Nelson Mandela and his wife visited Nigeria in 1990 following his release from prison.<\/p>\n

Onwenu diverted to Benson and Hedges Music in 1992 and released the self-titled Onyeka!, her only album with the label, after which she made the transition to Christian\/gospel music. Her latest collection, \u201cInspiration for Change,\u201d focused on the need for an attitudinal change in Nigeria.<\/p>\n

Acting<\/p>\n

Onwenu\u2019s first movie role was as Joke, a childless woman who adopts an abandoned baby in Zik Zulu Okafor\u2019s Nightmare.<\/p>\n

She has since featured in numerous Nollywood movies, and in 2006 she won the Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance in the movie \u201cWidow\u2019s Cot\u201d. She was also nominated that same year for Africa Movie Academy Award for \u201cBest Actress in a Leading Role\u201d in the movie \u201cRising Moon\u201d.<\/p>\n

In 2014 she was in the movie Half of a Yellow Sun with Chiwetel Ejiofor and Thandiwe Newton, and Lion Heart (2018).<\/p>\n

Politics<\/p>\n

Onwenu was a member of the Peoples Democratic Party. She contested twice to become the Local Council Chairman of her Local Government, Ideato North Local Government Area of Imo State, and lost at both attempts but was appointed Chairperson of Imo State Council for Arts and Culture by former governor Ikedi Ohakim. On September 16, 2013, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan appointed her the Executive Director\/Chief Executive Officer of the National Centre for Women Development.<\/p>\n

Activism<\/p>\n

In 2000, Onwenu protested against her former employer NTA over their refusal to pay royalties on her songs (NTA 2 Channel 5 had used \u201cIyogogo\u201d, a track from the Onyeka! album, in station idents without asking her permission). After then-director general Ben Murray-Bruce blacklisted her from transmission, she embarked on a hunger strike outside the station\u2019s premises.<\/p>\n

Onwenu\u2019s activism attracted widespread support from various artists, including Charly Boy, who lambasted Nigeria\u2019s reluctance to pay royalties when songs are broadcast on television and radio. NTA resolved to settle the issue amicably but denied barring Onwenu from appearing on their channels.<\/p>\n

The protest was called off after six days when Onwenu and NTA came to an arrangement regarding royalties.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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