Soulful Singer, Sola Allyson Celebrates 20 Years of Musical Excellence 

Tosin Clegg

Prolific singer and songwriter, Sola Allyson, has remained consistent over the years with her timeless music and unique style. It’s 20 years since her ground-breaking single, Eji Owuro brought her out and that single hit began such an industrious and beautiful career that have gone ahead to bless many and impact their lives. 

In celebrating her 20 years in the industry, Allyson said: “This is 20 years after Eji Owuro. Eji Owuro was released on November 20, 2003. It was originally a sound track of a film of the same title. Before then, I was already in the music industry for about 15 years. I have been a backup singer before they contracted me to do the sound track for Eji Owuro.

“I didn’t know what was going to happen but I make sure I put in my best into everything that I do. I am a thorough worker. If I want to do something, no matter how small or how much they pay me, I want to do it very well. I didn’t know it was going to become like that. Usually, sound tracks are not always very long, they are not as long as albums.  After the film was released, the executive producer, Mr. Ola Ibironke said it would be good for the songs to stand on their own that the songs are too big to be left in a film. So, that was how I had to add to the songs to make them longer and we are here today 20 years after.”

It’s been a beautiful two decades for Allyson and with 10 albums to back up the discography of her career she has indeed shown how to stand the test of time and stay relevant despite the surge of musicians across all genres of music.

Attesting that the texture of her voice is my natural magic, she further explained, “I just open my mouth and sing. I sound like that and I embraced it. I met somebody who helped me to embrace it. I have always sounded like this. I began singing in Islamic school ( ile kewu). That is where I started singing. Then Cherubim and Seraphim church, then Celestial church. Since I was little, I have always been a star. It is either I am doing cultural dance or when we are singing at Islamic school, it is my voice that would be going up. I have always been ‘that Girl’.”

Speaking about what’s next for her she expressed that, “I don’t put myself under pressure. I just take everyday as they come but you can be sure that the way you do anything is the way you do everything. I have found my soul’s path now. I am very sure of what I’m supposed to do now. You can be sure that everything that I am going to do is going to be based on the same foundation that I laid, based on the same values, the dynamics might be a bit different but I’m still going to be this same Sola Allyson that you know. I sing in Yoruba predominantly. I am very African. I’m very Nigerian. I’m very Yoruba. I am a woman. I’m a wife. I’m a mother. Anything can change some things but my value that I put will never change.”