Stella Okoli, Onyeka Onwenu
By Victory Oghene
That veteran singer, Onyeka Onwenu died few hours ago is no longer news. What many people don’t know is that the elegant woman slumped and died after performing at the 80th birthday party of Stella Okolie, chief executive officer of Emzor Pharmaceuticals, on Tuesday.
She was rushed to the Reddington Hospital in Lagos where she later passed on.
Onwenu will be remembered for her music albums such as In The Morning Light and Dancing In The Sun.
Onyeka was the Director General of the National Center for Women Development. In 1981, with the release of her first Album, Endless Life, she had described her MUSIC As “African Pop”. Decades later, that description is still apt. You will hear traces of Highlife, Afrobeat, Blues, Jazz, Igbo Spiritual and even Juju, a typical Yoruba beat. Her Music speaks to the listener about the central and humanistic values of love, unity, peaceful coexistence, respect for the rights of all as well as pride in oneself.
The ace singer married to a Yoruba Muslim in 1984 and the union produced two sons named Tijani Ogunlende and Ibrahim Ogunlende. Ibrahim later changed his name to Abraham. They are based in the US.
There were however allegations that Mr Ogunlende was happily married before Onyeka gate crashed into the union and she dared not make noise then because the legal wife was spoiling for a fight.
Mr Ogunlende, was the former owner of Copperfield in Alakara area of mushin then. Copperfield was men boutique that stocked the best of French suites then.
In 2020, Onyeka Onwenu revealed that she had undergone surgery for an undisclosed health issue.
She later confirmed that she had been diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), a type of breast cancer. After undergoing treatment, she announced that she was cancer-free.
