Being the full text of the Keynote Address by COSON Chairman, Chief Tony Okoroji, at the Creative Industry Group Anti-Drug Abuse Conference, Nov 28, 2024
I have consciously titled this address, ”The Natural High” because I believe that there is the ‘high’ that comes from inspiration, from education, from good company and as the endowment of the Almighty. That I call the natural ‘high’. There is also the instigated ‘high’. This ‘high’ is induced and is a product of desperation to be what we are not or to help us escape from reality or mask depression. Unfortunately, this often ends in disaster. This I believe is the unnatural ‘high’.
There is a widely held opinion that if you do not induce yourself to be in a condition of unnatural ‘high’, you cannot be creative. In other words, you have to be on some drugs to be a successful songwriter, singer or performer or even a good producer, director or actor.
My experience however is that most of the long-term successful songwriters, singers, performers, producers, directors, or actors, who have gone on, year after year, do not indulge in any drugs or stimulants. They thrive on their natural ‘high’.
Let’s take a few examples of great artistes that I know very well.
The “Miliki” King, Ebenezer Obey Fabiyi is 82 years old. For more than 60 years, Obey, the Chief Commander, has been the composer of unmatched philosophical songs. He continues to compose, record and perform. Obey’s house in Ikeja has been an extension of my home for many years. We have shared many meals and very close moments.
One thing I am very sure of, is that Ebenezer Obey, the musical genius did not compose any of his iconic songs like “Edumare Soro Mi Dayo”, “E Sa Ma Miliki”, or “Olowo L’ aye Mo” under the influence of any stimulant. His massively successful evergreen album, “Board Members” with songs that will never die, is the product of natural talent, created during moments of natural ‘high’. Obey, the winner of numerous awards and conferred with a big national honour, has never needed drugs to be successful.
King Sunny Ade, the master guitarist, at 78 years, continues to be boisterous and active on stage. Week after week, Sunny Ade is performing at one event or another. There is no way that Sunny can keep up with his tasking schedule if he had polluted his body with drugs. Take it from me, none of Sunny Ade’s super hits, like “Mo Ti Mo”, “Ariya” or “Ja Funmi” was created under the influence of any substance. His creativity is a gift from the Almighty.
Another Nigerian guitar wizard is the Afro Juju creator, Sir Shina Peters. Sir Shina is not just a friend, he is like a brother. We were born five months apart, and share a bond which die-hard tribalists cannot understand. SSP’s ‘high’ comes when he is on stage. His “drug” is the music. It is the music that stimulates him and brings that uncommon energy when he is performing. At 66, Shina continues to go strong because he has stayed completely away from illicit drugs.
I also play the guitar but I never made the mistake of playing the guitar in the presence of the quintessential guitar boy, the late Professor, Sir Victor Uwaifo. Uwaifo played with chords and scales that you cannot find in any guitar tutorial. There probably will not be another Victor Uwaifo in our lifetime.
A few months before Victor Uwaifo died on August 28, 2021, I had the honour of sitting next to him at his big 80th birthday celebration in Benin City attended by the high and mighty. At the event, the king of “Ekassa”, “Sasakosa” and “Titibiti” played the guitar like it was an extension of his being.
Victor Uwaifo who showed me love and affection in unforgettable ways, was pure and natural. His creation of great songs like “Joromi” “Guitar Boy” “Sweet Banana” “Siwo-Siwo”, etc., was inspired by the Almighty. His restless creative energy that made him a huge success as a composer, performer, writer, sculptor, inventor and lecturer, was never induced by any drug or illicit substance. Sir Victor Uwaifo passed at the height of the Covid 19 pandemic. I verily believe that at age 83, he would still be jamming some great music today if his sudden illness was not mis-managed.
The creative people who did drugs did not acquire their creative ingenuity from the drugs they did. In most cases, the drugs ruined their once great careers and led to their untimely death. Unfortunately, the world is then denied of that which they would have continued to contribute to humanity. Their families and friends are denied their love, and their careers are cut short.
Let me give you a few examples.
None of us can forget the iconic reggae superstar, Bob Nesta Marley, who died of Cancer at the age of 36, on May 11, 1981, in Miami, Florida.
The creative genius behind unassailable songs like “No Woman No Cry,” “Exodus,” “Could You Be Loved,” “Coming in from the Cold,” “I Shot the Sherrif”, “Jamming,”, “Rastaman Vibration”, “Redemption Song,” and many others, may not have died of Melanoma at 36, if he paid more attention to his health.
Unfortunately, the prodigy who created the song, “Natural Mystic” stayed unnaturally high, hooked on ‘kaya’, a very potent type of marijuana and the world still mourns the death of Bob Marley at the age 36 years.
Elvis Aaron Presley, the American singer known across the world by millions, simply as Elvis, was reputed to be the “King of Rock and Roll”, and regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. He died on August 16, 1977, at the age of 42 from what is regarded as drug overdose.
The musical icon behind classics like “Hound Dog”, “Kiss Me Quick” and “Jailhouse Rock” topped the charts with 18 No. 1 hits and has sold more than one billion records. Elvis is still one of the most beloved artistes of all times.
Whitney Houston, one of the greatest female singers of a generation, was found dead at the age of 48 in a bathtub at a Beverly Hills hotel on February 11, 2012. A coroner’s report stated that the cause of her death was accidental drowning, with heart disease and cocaine use as contributing factors.
Whitney who lifted the world with her soaring voice in songs like “Greatest Love of All,” which became her signature song; “How Will I Know?”; and “Saving All My Love for You,” died at the prime of her career and left millions across the world, heart-broken.
Fela Aníkúlápó Kútì, the Nigerian musician and political activist regarded as the principal creator of Afrobeat, died on August 2, 1997 at the age 58 years. I believe that at the time Fela created those immortal songs like “Jeun ku Oku” (Chop & Quench), “Black Man’s Cry”, “Lady” and “Shakara” he had not so immersed himself in the heavy Marijuana concoction called Fela “gworo”. I considered Fela my friend and visited him, once in a while, in his Ikeja home. I admired his art and his politics. I just think that if he had not got more deeply into drugs and unprotected sex, maybe as a way of escaping the effects of the unceasing brutality he faced, Fela might still be alive today.
On the morning of April 21, 2016, Prince, the incredibly talented songwriter, singer, multi-instrumentalist and performer who created more than 30 albums and won seven Grammy Awards over a 40-year career, was found dead in Paisley Park, his Minnesota home and recording studio. The cause of death of the enigma who created songs like “I wanna be your Lover”, “When Doves Cry” and “Little Red Covette”, was stated as accidental overdose of the opioid, fentanyl. Prince died at the age of 57.
“Jimi” Hendrix, the American guitarist, songwriter and singer is widely regarded as the greatest guitarist in the history of popular music and one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. While we have had amazing guitarists like Carlos Santana, B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Chuck Berry and so on, Jimi Hendrix was still considered the GOAT. He was different.
On September 18, 1970, the music world stood still. James Marshall, popularly known as “Jimi” Hendrix, was reported to have died suddenly. He was only 27 years old! The post-mortem examination at St Mary Abbots Hospital in London where Jimi died, concluded that Hendrix aspirated his own vomit and died of asphyxia while intoxicated with barbiturates.
I have taken time in this keynote address to refer to examples that show the harm that illicit drugs can do to the careers of creative people. The truth is that you don’t need drugs to be a successful creative person. The evidence is that drugs have contributed immensely to destroy the careers of many creative people and to cut their careers shot.
Please, do not listen to people who tell you that you need to be on drugs to be a great composer or a wonderful performer.
If you want to be a success and remain a success, stay away from drugs. Stay away from the unnatural ‘high’. Ask the Almighty to give you the Natural ‘high’ and you are good to go.
