Omotena crooner, Joshua Iniyezo,
popularly known as Solidstar, tells Punch
about his career and relationship with
actress, Tonto Dikeh
Your album is coming out and the public
expectation is way higher than your last
album. What do you have to offer your
fans?
I know there is a lot of expectation of me
career-wise. I know I will live up to the
expectation because I just released two
songs online and the reviews are great.
They are really doing well though we just
released them online. The two songs are
off the album. We just want everybody to
go and get the album when it is out
because there is going to be different
things from Solidstar. People should
expect different things from me because
they know me as this R ‘n’B artiste but I
changed their perception when I released,
Omotena and Skibo. I want my fans to
know that apart from this afro-pop, I still
do reggae, dancehall and the likes. It is
more like a very versatile album. I just
want to give everybody a different feel
and various options to choose from.
This year has been good for you. It has
been reported that you acquired multi-
million naira properties this year alone.
What did you do differently?
Last year, I performed a lot but most of
them were free shows. I was only paid for
a few. This year I made a lot of money,
did a lot of things for a change. I told my
team that we had to sit up. We had spent
a lot on projects and we had to think of
ways to get the money back. We had a
meeting and decided that we all had to
put in our best in whatever project we
were doing. We thank God it worked out
well. Now I am proud of not just my label,
but of myself also.
You are still with the label that
discovered you, Achivas Music. Will you
leave it at anytime like some artistes do
leave their record labels?
I doubt if I will leave Achivas Music
anytime soon because the management
has been doing well. It is hard to stay on
your own because the challenge can be
overwhelming. Even if I want to go, I will
still be under it; something like an
affiliation because it will not be easy. For
now, I am still with Achievas.
You are known to be very close to Tuface,
why are you not signed to his record
label, Hypertek Records?
I was already signed to Achivas Music
before Hypertek Records became my
friend. I knew Tuface through my record
label. We became very close that some
people even thought I was signed under
Hypertek. Kudos to Tuface, I really
appreciate what he has done for me over
the years. He is part of my success story.
He got me fame and fortune and I am
really grateful to him.
How is your grandmother who has
always been there to support you and
your dream?
My grandmother is late now. To me then,
she was my everything; she meant the
whole world to me and gave me all her
support that my own mother and father
did not give me. She sent me to school
with the little she had. She was a
prophetess and she had a church. She
was the kind of woman that liked helping
people and had a lot of people under her
wings. She really tried for me and she is
somebody that I will never forget. My
granny would do anything to see me
happy and I was her favourite grandchild.
How do you feel, knowing your
grandmother is not alive to witness your
success?
I think about it most time and anytime I
do, I feel very bad. I don’t cry though but
I think about it. I just wish she was here
to see her son doing good; if she were
alive, she would never go hungry for a
day. While she was alive, she never ever
wanted to see me hungry. By now, I
probably would have bought a house for
her. I would have taken her to somewhere
special.
Is it true that you bought a 2013 Infinity
SUV for N13m? Why are you not riding it
about?
With the kind of weather we are
experiencing now, there are just some
places you would not want to take it to.
Is it true you recently bought a property
worth about N30m?
Yes, I did.
Do you have any endorsement deal?
No. I don’t.
How did you get all that money?
I got them from shows; God has been
really merciful to me. He has been so
wonderful to me. I did tours and got
money from that too.
Why did you switch from love songs to
party songs?
I do music for love but at the same time,
you have to look at the monetary aspect.
We have spent a lot of money. I could
remember back then when I sang ‘One in
a million’, I sang with all my heart and
soul but it did not bring me money. My
account was crying. There was nothing
coming in, all I got was that I was a
talented artiste and I got lots of thumbs
up. After much thoughts, I decided to
change. I am very versatile; I can actually
sing anything. I decided to change and
see what would happen. That was when I
did Omotena; that was a song that was
different from my genre of music and it
worked. I decided that the next one was
going to be better. Then I did Skibo and
the song was a hit.
Are you dating Tonto Dikeh?
We do hang out. We relax together; we
are very very close but not like girlfriend
and boyfriend. We are really close. We
hang out together, go to places and chill
together.
Will you cut your dreadlocks anytime
soon?
I will but not yet because I still need to
make a lot of money. I have a small face.
My dreads are deceiving a lot of people. If
I cut them off I will look like a small boy
and you may not recognise me. When I
have decided to relax with music, then I
will cut them off.
Why did you pick Independence Day for
your album launch?
The timing works for me. I feel releasing
the album on October 1 will be very cool.
That day is a free day; I doubt if anybody
will release an album on that day.
Everywhere will be relaxed. Being a free
day, I am sure people’s attention will be
focused on the album launch.
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