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- Music Icon, SUNNY NEJI Tells City People
Sunny Neji, hardly grants interviews. He is a quiet and easy going Music star who is highly talented. He has a simple personality that is infectious. He is humble to a fault. And he is easy going. Over the years, he has combined all these traits with his gift of writing songs and singing. He is lucky to have been imbued with these giftings.
Over the years, he has made his mark as a performing and recording artiste. And he has had so many hits and top selling albums to his credit.
Sunny Neji, says his active involvement in music began at an early age, as he participated in cultural performances in his hometown of Ishibori, in Ogoja LGA of Cross River State. His parent’s love for music and his father’s collection of classic records propelled Sunny.
In 1987, he ventured into recording radio jingles & TV commercials.
1991 saw the release of his debut album, Captain on EMI label. He joined Colours Band and performed as the Lead Singer for 5 years before he left.
In 1997, he released Mr. Fantastik, which won him awards.
He hit the music industry with his 3rd album titled Roforofo in October, 2000. That album consolidated Sunny’s position as a contemporary highlife singer .
His 4th album came in 2003 titled Unchained. So far Unchained is his biggest album. His pre-release singles Oruka and Face-Me occupied the No 1 and 2 spots on music charts and rocked the airways for quite a while.
Oruka (Wedding Band) was soon to become an unofficial wedding song in Nigeria.
Then came the Unchained album which was a big hit.
He was born on 24th October, 1965, as the youngest and of 5 kids 3 boys and 2 girls.
Sunny Neji, had his primary school education between 1972 and 1978 in Ogoja his hometown, in Cross River State.
Many did not know that Sunny Neji completed his secondary school education at Government College, Ikorodu, Lagos in 1984 and proceeded to Yaba College of Technology where he obtained a Diploma in Fashion Design.
A few days back, City People got Sunny Neji, for a Face-To-Face interview.
We met at the popular O’Jez Restaurant, Lounge & Bar, inside National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos. It was an interesting and exciting session, as he went down memory lane and revealed how he has responded to the changing trends in music.
In the engaging conversation, he shared how he is adapting to the Digital Age, learning from younger generations, and his plans for a huge comeback with fresh sounds. He started by talking about The Legend Concert by Sunny Nneji & Friends.
“Talking about the Sunny Neji & Friends Concert, I will say it was quite an experience”, he told City People. “You know, it’s been a while since I had a Concert. And a lot of people have been asking me: have you retired from music? “No I haven’t. So it was necessary that we had a concert like this, to let everyone know. I have been wanting to release an EP for a while now, I was even thinking that the EP would be ready before the concert, but it wasn’t. I am done with the concert now”.
“But the concert was quite an experience. It was a very wonderful experience. You know, because almost everyone I wanted to see at the concert, that I invited showed up, Daddy Showkey was there, Oristsafemi was there. Ruggedman was there, Alariwo came. Oke Bakassi was there and a lot of other artists. And Oke said to me that it was like a reunion. So we have a whole lot of people out there who are missing out on what is happening today, music-wise, people who want to hear the music of the 90s, 2000s. You know, they are missing out. So I felt there was a gap that we needed to fill. So we need a concert like that. So that people could have the opportunity to come out and hear music they used to love but couldn’t get to hear again. So that was a concert, and being the very first concert, it was very successful. We turned the table around, and we had a good time. We had a good occasion, and for me personally, it was something that people to talk about. So it was a wonderful concert, and I’m really happy that people had the opportunity to come and participate. In fact we are planning Abuja Concert. We plan to take it to Uyo or have a Calabar version. Then we would now come back to Lagos. For Lagos, its going to be every year. It was a wonderful concert, well executed and I had a team that gave their best”.
Many of his songs and singles have been big hits. Each time he records his songs does it occur to that they are going to be hits?
“You know, every artiste who starts to record a song, is hoping that the song will be Good. Most, most times, it doesn’t work out that way. Because for every hit an artiste gets, he probably must have recorded 20, 30, 40, 50, even 100 songs and were not hits. For every song an artist begins to work on, he expects it to be a hit. So I was hoping that they would be hits.
So they usually turn out to be hits. When I realized that Oruka was a hit, was when bands all over the country were playing it at parties and things like that”.
And then, how did that make him go back to produce the next one to come up with another album?
“You know, it’s always very challenging when you’re recording. Because what you want to do is to do something that will, at least, meet up with the standard of the one you did before since you also want the new album to also be a hit. So, it’s always very, very challenging.
What is it that makes a song a Hit song, we asked him? “You can’t really tell. Nobody can tell what really makes a hit. Because there are some songs you put in so much, you think that, yes, this is it”.
“And you don’t really do anything. There are some songs, yes, you’re hoping that they’ll be hits, but you do not give them that kind of attention. And then they come out to be the biggest songs.
So, the pressure is always there to surpass what you’ve done before. After that, I released another album. But it wasn’t a hit.
It was called Roforofo. You know, it didn’t make that hit”.
And how did he feel? Did he feel sad or bad?
Or it made him go back to the drawing board.
“One thing with artists who are in music, for art, what it does is challenge you. You go back and say, okay, now that didn’t work. Let me go at it another way.
And you understand. That’s the mindset. Because if you let it weigh you down, you can slip into depression and become unproductive.
You understand? So you just keep on going. For every song I’ve recorded, whether they were hits or not, I love all of them. They’re like my children.
After Roforofo, was when I did my biggest hit, which is Unchained.
Unchained is one that has songs like Oruka, Face Me, Tolotolo. And the ones in my dialect, and that became my biggest album to date.
But I’m hoping to hit it sometime”.
What has he been doing in the last few years?
“The last few years, has been a lot of soul-searching, a lot of trying to rejig, a lot of planning my comeback, how do I want to come back? How do I want to tinker with my style, how do I want to lead it the way it’s always been? Planning to introduce new things, so it’s been a whole lot of work going on”.
“You might look at me and say I have not been doing anything. Not at all. And it’s going to be evident when I release my album”.
“I have loads of songs to release. You and I were talking about the changes that have happened over the years. Everything is digital now, everything is online now. There’s a whole new appetite for music but consumed differently now than it used to be”.
“So we need to take in all these things and see how we can position properly to fit in. Luckily for me, I have lots of Gen Z’s around me. My kids are Gen Z’s now.
So they tell me, daddy, this is how you guys used to do it, but this is how we like it done now. So we can use this, add that, you know, and all that. So it’s taking everything in and seeing how we can have a mix that will make success”.
How does he see the changes that is affecting all the sectors, not only music now? All the changes that came?
The way that it used to be like 10 years ago is not what it is now. How has it affected everything, life and existence?
How does he see the whole thing?
“You know, there’s a popular saying that the only permanent thing in life is change. Most times we are not ready for change. Most times we resist it.
Most times we just get confused, we do not know how to go about it. But Change must happen, whether we like it or not, we just have to find a way to fit into the change”.
“Find a way to use this Change to our advantage. If we say we want to resist it and fight it, we would be left behind.
“Change must happen. I see everything in life as very interesting. Yes, it’s been very challenging, very difficult, but it’s been very interesting”.
“Because this change was like another learning curve for mankind. You understand? We’re all used to doing things in the analog ways, all of a sudden, things are not going to be the same”.
“We didn’t stop there. Things have moved now. Everything is now online.
I do not know what the next phase will be, but this is very interesting. I’m still studying it. I’m still trying to understand it.
I’m still trying to ride it. That’s what I’m trying to do. And it’s not just music, like you said, it cuts across”.
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