From an impactful music career to being a humanitarian of international repute, Nikki Laoye has quietly conquered the world with her Angel4Life Foundation that offers succour to persons living with disabilities, migrants and Internally Displaced Persons. Born Oyenike Laoye, she was recently in the news celebrating the life and times of the late musician, Sound Sultan and how he had contributed in no small measure to her foundation and humanity at large. Laoye reunited with music artists such as Weird MC and MODE 9 in the UK for an evening of tributes to Sound Sultan. In this interview with Yinka Olatunbosun, she revealed what she had done professionally for 15 years and how she dealt with the grief of losing her father ten years ago.
Nikki Laoye’s music journey started when she was an undergraduate at the University of Ibadan. She was a part of a girl group named Soul Sistas which included Aboyowa and Debola. They performed at concerts, toured Southwest Nigeria and were aglow with very promising career prospects. Laoye kicked off her solo career in 2006 with her debut single “Never Felt This Way Before” produced by the phenomenal artist, Cobhams Asuquo under the watch of Wahala Media Entertainment.
With a video shot and directed by Clarence Peters, the song became a global hit. It was nominated for many awards and won at many including The Headies, Kora Awards, SoundCity Music Video Awards, City People Awards, Nigeria Music Video Awards, NEA Awards (USA) etc. In 2009, she was one of the first Nigerian artists to be featured on BET alongside Rooftop MCs, Timi Dakolo and Lara George, serving as a guest Judge for the first BET Sunday Best Auditions in Nigeria.
“MTVBase came next as I was called to participate in the rockumentary reality show, “Advance Warning” alongside M.I and Waje,” she recounted. “For weeks, MTV followed us and recorded our families, our daily activities at home, studio and they also captured the launch for my debut album, “Angel 4 Life”.
At the 2009 mega concert, The Experience Lagos, she had the privilege of performing alongside great international acts like Cece Winans, Kirk Franklin with an audience of about 500,000 people. She had also shared stage with legendary R&B stars such as Mary J Blige and Brian McKnight. In that same year, she was nominated in two categories at the Headies for “Best Female Vocal Performance” and ‘Hip Hop World Revelation of the Year’ (Best New Artist) where she was the only female contender alongside Banky W, M.I and Naeto C.
She rose from fame to fame till the night of August 3 when tragedy struck.
“I still can’t believe that it will actually be 10 years this year since I lost my dad. He passed away in 2011 and it totally broke my heart. Being the only daughter, I was his favourite (my brothers won’t even argue with you on this one) and it hit me pretty hard because he took his last breath in my car as I raced to the hospital that fateful night of August 3, just 15 minutes to his 60th birthday, which was August 4,” she recounted.
This traumatic experience took a devastating toll on Laoye. She couldn’t find joy in the activities that used to make her happy.
“I was angry with God, my faith in Him was threatened and I just needed to get away from the public space so I could deal with the pain, the depression and the anger. For two years, I stayed away from the music industry and I do thank God – our ever loving Father- for never leaving my side, he helped me through it all and also gave me a comeback song, “Only You” through my close friend and guitarist, Nelson Jason who had written the first verse and chorus and told me “God said I should give you this song”. I finished up the song and called on another close friend of mine/producer, RotimiKeys who produced it and I shot the video with another friend of mine, Shabach in the United Kingdom,” she revealed.
The song became a smash hit upon its release in 2013, clinching several awards including The Headies for Best Vocal Performance (Female); AFRIMMA ( Best Female Artist in African Inspirational Music); Best Soft Rock/Alternative Video Nigerian Music Video Awards (NMVA); African Female Artist of the Year – Africa Gospel Music Awards (AGMA, LONDON, UK) and many more.
“The song healed my heart and till date, it is still blessing and healing hearts across the globe. In the midst of it all, I just thank God for everything and I know my Dadda, as I fondly call him, is resting peacefully in his arms,” she said.
Her sojourn into humanitarian course was not mere accident. Having worked as an intern with the UNICEF in Lagos, her desire to care for others became heightened. Hence, she set up Angel 4 Life Foundation on her birthday December 19, 2010. With over a decade of serving humanity by providing support and empowerment for People with Disabilities, children with cancer, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and migrants, Laoye had sourced partnerships from individuals and organisations including DJ Cuppy, Yemi Alade, Sammie Okposo, Nathaniel Bassey, Toke Makinwa, Dangote Group, Sahara Group and many more.
From 2014 to 2018, she served as a celebrity voice for the Lagos Chapter of the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons and in November 2017, she began to create awareness about the return and plight of Nigerian Migrants in Libya.
Video reports on her humanitarian efforts went viral. She worked alongside others in helping many families to find their long lost relatives. All these did not escape the attention of the international media.
“CNN, BBC, Reuters and other news media reached out to me for interviews and also shared my videos on their networks.
It totally gladdens my heart whenever my humanitarian services bring families back together; or when we get the grants and resources to help pay for cancer treatment for children; to buy guide canes for the blind and visually impaired; to provide scholarships for the education of Students with Disabilities.
This is my job for a lifetime and I would continue to use my platform to create further awareness and gather more support for people who need the help in our society,’’ she gushed.
She was one of those Nigerians stuck abroad during the global lockdown that forced many countries to shut down international travels. For seven months, she couldn’t return to Nigeria. Still, she maintained a positive attitude despite the cancel culture that affected live events like concerts. Laoye remarked that Covid-19 has made artists to reinvent themselves, make wise use of our social media platforms or recorded concerts. With 15 years in the music scene, she is focused on inspiring and motivating people through her faith in God, whilst coaching younger ones on life, love and relationships.
Her kind of gospel or inspirational music has such cross-over appeal because she enlivens her art with dance. Another reason is that she collaborates with secular singers such as Banky W and Seyi Shay to reach a broader spectrum of audience. With inspiration from music greats such as Brandy, Kirk Franklin, Mary J Blige, Cece Winans, Beyonce, DC Talk, Jars of Clay, Anointed, Deitrick Haddon, Laoye just wants to be the voice of love and hope.
Laoye is not immune to the challenges that tend to limit female artists in the music industry. She revealed that some performance lists don’t include female artists at all or just a few. In addition to this, most radio stations don’t play gospel music as much as secular music.
“But thank God for social media, online radio platforms, YouTube and all new digital expressions that has taken back that power and now our music is being seen and heard with just a click of a mobile phone or a computer,’’ she said.
When asked how she likes to unwind, Laoye said she loves comedy shows, movies as well as video games like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter. And need we add her favourite pastime-music? At the moment, she is shooting more videos and recording new singles.
“Recently I released the videos for one of my jazzy soulful classics, “None + You = Me”, which was shot and directed by Snatcha (of the popular Rooftop MCs) and another collaboration video, “Nothing Without You” with Tolu of Project Fame.
Although commercial gain is not the major motive behind what many gospel artists pursue, they also want to make sales to cover costs of music production in audio and video formats, tours and pay their band members.
Away from her brief stint in acting in movies as well as stage plays, Laoye is also beauty entrepreneur. In 2018, she kicked off her herbal skin and haircare line, Fine Woman by Nikki Laoye. She shared some of her beauty tips.
“Daily, I use my coffee scrub, and turmeric scrub twice a week. I keep my skin well cleansed with my homemade black soap while my night routine consists of my homemade rose water cleanser and my body oils to keep my skin soft and moisturised like a baby’s own. Great Beauty comes from inside out so I drink lots of water, eat lots of fruits and vegetables and I don’t play with my multivitamins,’’ she said, with a smiley.
