CHRISTY ANYANWU

Nollywood actress, Jennifer Eliogu, has been a screen queen for 20 years. Not quite long ago, she decided to focus more on music, her first love. She has recorded 21 songs and just finished producing her third film. In this interview, she talks about her firsts.

First musical video?

That was in 2012. The song was titled ‘Ifunanya’. It’s a beautiful ballad. It’s now on Youtube and it has received a lot of acceptance from mature minds. In fact, that’s one of the songs I play most when I’m invited to perform at weddings. I have all my songs in full album and this year I will be launching. I have recorded 21 songs. I don’t want to say the exact time I will release the album because the last time I did so, it didn’t work. I had other things to do at the time, and I ended up not doing it. I will just wait till I’m very sure, fix the date, book for the venue and only then would I talk about it. It’s going to be a quiet one – for selected few people.

First time on stage singing, what was the reception?

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The reaction was mixed. A lot of people were surprised. They were looking at me like and saying, what is she doing there? Several others said, so she sings as well. When I read the comments, which the people who watched my videos made and it was really impressive and encouraging. People said a lot of nice things. I do songs that suit my personality. I write lyrics that encourage and educate. I talk about love a lot – love for God, love for self, because you can’t give what you don’t have and love for humanity. Because I have done movies for 20 years, now I’m giving a little more attention to music. With the movies, the scripts will always come. Music is my baby, but I’m not your everyday musician, I’m not everywhere. I choose the kind of shows, the kind of performances; the audience matters a lot because you need to be able to communicate.

You have produced three films, which was the first one?

The first film was titled ‘From Within.’ It is a family story. A young man, a widower, was left to take care of two daughters. He had to find love again. At least find someone to take care of the girls. The man was comfortable, he had a good job but he needed someone in his life who would just love him, not for the money but for him and who would love his children equally. One thing is to have a woman who loves you and doesn’t want to be a part of your children. It’s another thing to have a woman who loves you and your baggage. And that was what he was looking for. He found that love in the most unusual place. It’s a beautiful story. Kenneth Okonkwo played the lead, Ebele Okaro and had two young girls. The movie won best Child Actress of the Year 2013 at the Zaphas Award in the UK.

First time acting in a movie?

It was titled’ House on Fire’. We shot it in Jos, Plateau State. We had Ejike Asiegbu, Gloria Anozie and Charles Okafor. They were stars already. For me, I was overwhelmed that I worked and acted alongside people I had been seeing in movies. I tripped.