Wolves in sheep clothes
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Men try to lure me to bed with marriage proposals – Ephy
Sixthsense34@yahoo.com
Former IBAN girl, Ifeyinwa Charity Arinze popularly known as Ephy is presently torn between fulfilling her dreams of making success of her musical career and giving in to the floods of demands from men.
While she works day and night to build a legacy out of her budding musical career, her male admirers also burn the candles in their bids to conquer her heart and lure it into their palace of erotic possibilities. Such is the irony that trails the story of former IBAN (a three-girl singing group) girl.
Speaking with SimplySamad, Ephy formerly known as Ify (while with IBAN) speaks on how she strikes a balance between her love for music and the distraction from her male fans and admirers who constantly plot means to lure her into relationships and ultimately; into bed. “I can be really crazy. I’m telling that it could get very crazy because the thing in vogue as far as I’m concerned is marriage. They tell me that once I give them the signal, they would want to see my parents. It’s so funny because I’ve come to realize that I man can say anything just to get a woman. Right now, I have to set my priorities right and dating is not one of the things I’m doing right now. I feel that being in a relationship and doing music is like serving two masters and I don’t see myself doing that. I want to finish my album, bring it out then maybe I’ll have time for the guy that comes along.”
Ephy also spoke on the story on why she left her former group and her plans to kick-start her solo career with her forthcoming album.
Meet Ephy
I’m from Auchi in Edo State. Christian. I attended at Modern Ideal College (MIC), Enugu and Ambrose Ali University, Ekpoma where I had my diploma in criminology. I wanted to study law but I couldn’t get in so took a course related to law so I could switch when I was done with the diploma programme. That was why I studied criminology because it was the closets to law in my school at the time. I never planned to be a police officer or anything like that. Right from time, I always wanted to be a lawyer. It was a big dream. As for entertainment, I have always had a natural love for it. I’m a movie freak. Sometimes, I would ask my dad to buy movies all the time. A video club once asked me to give them my movies so that they could expand their video club. I started acting in 2005. That drew me into entertainment and I started with acting. My first movie was with Genevieve, Sam Dede and some others. The title of the movie was ‘Bumper to Bumper.’ After that I did strange affection, Love and marriage, Blames of Memories and many others. I’ve always wanted to do music so I started by managing a group called ‘X5.’
My solo career
I used to Ify while with IBAN but I’m now Ephy (Exotic Pretty Hot Youth). The guy who was writing songs for IBAN is the same guy who now writes songs for me. I told him I wanted a ten-track album so he wrote me some songs. His name is Tom Xclaim. He’s an artiste as well. He wrote the popular songs for IBAN, Burn Fire and Pump It. He wrote 80% of the songs for IBAN. I wrote three songs for IBAN. IBAN never came out with an album but we had singles. We had our album ready but it never came out. We had about 11 tracks. I recently learn that IBAN is on the verge of releasing their album. They recently shot a video at Options Club with Akin Alabi. I was not informed so I’m just trying to do my own thing because when we were in IBAN, we were sponsoring ourselves. It wasn’t as if we had a sponsor or a marketer. We just pulled our resources together to make things work. The name we had for the IBAN album was ‘Pump It’ but it never came out and I don’t know what name they have for it now. When Ogo left, we took out her voice from the songs and out in Innocentia’s own. Now that I’m out, my voice will definitely be off the songs.
How I got hooked on Rhyme Squad record label
I gathered resources, spoke to some of my friends in December last year hoping to do something concrete by February this year as regards my album but at the end of the day, there was this movie I did; ‘Died for Conscience.’ Someone watched the film in Amsterdam, fell in love with the movie and called the marketer. He asked to get my number and the marketer called me to inform me that somebody called him from Amsterdam saying he has a business proposal for me. I said it was ok so he gave the guy my number. He called me and said he had seen my video, ‘Burn Fire’ on Youtube. He said he didn’t know I was an actress as well. He said he has a record label and he has just one artiste signed, Samma Rhymes who is recording with Puffy Tee at the moment. When I told him I had gone solo, he said it was better as it enable me penetrate his label, ‘Rhyme Squad.’ He said I should take it to the label. He said if it was good enough, that we would be able to do business. I went to them, they listened to my stuff and they said it was cool and that they were ready to work with me. They said they would have to reproduce every track with their own producer. I said it was fine. We started attending meetings and we wrapped up the deal. My ten-track album will be coming out soon but I’m still working with a couple of guys in the industry. I finished working with K-Solo recently and I’ll was with Cabasa on April 9th. Puffy Tee will be my last point of call. Hopefully, by the end of this month, I should have completed works for my album and I have some artistes I want to feature on the album. My album will be titled ‘Set to Go.’ I’ll be working on my videos soon.
Relationships
I’m not married. Right now, I’m going to be very honest with you. I don’t want to disclose anything about my relationship. I don’t want to disclose details of my relationship right now. I’m definitely in a relationship but I wouldn’t want to start talking about it now but when the time comes, you’ll know. When the time is right it’s not gong to be a hidden thing. I’m not going to have a secret wedding. I’m going to be very proud of my husband; even if he lives abroad, he’s going to have to come to Nigeria because this is where I am and this is where my fans and people are. My families are here so why would I want to go and have a wedding where people won’t see me. Even if I must have two weddings, I would. I’ll have my wedding and everybody is going to know about it.
How singing started
While acting, I decided to infuse music into it. So I started with managing. The group I was managing was made up of my friends in school; two guys and two girls. Two of them were pastor’s children and were already singing for the choir. As time went by, they encouraged me to sing and made me understand that I had a very good voice. So I thought I would give it a try. The guys started the problem with the group and they wouldn’t respect me because they were all older than I was. When I bring ideas, they wouldn’t accept it because they still considered me their little friend.
The birth of IBAN
At a point, I told one of the girls, Vivian Richards that I was thinking about starting a three-girl musical group and she said she had been thinking about the same thing as well. So, we decided to get a third person. Finally, we got Ogo Nwosu as the third girl and we formed IBAN in 2006. All of a sudden, Ogo made it clear that she could no longer cope with the fame and popularity because people were beginning to call us for interviews and shows. She said she didn’t know IBAN was going to grow that big and told us that she couldn’t cope with that kind of lifestyle. She said she wanted her privacy, which she felt she was losing with IBAN. At that point, she said she wanted to leave IBAN. We couldn’t hold her down so we told her that she was free to pull out if she wanted to. She however said she could still hang in till we got a replacement so it wouldn’t look as if she left us stranded and we appreciated the fact that she came out sincerely. We told her not to worry that we would find a way around it. Ogo eventually left IBAN in 2007. We got a replacement for Ogo, Innocentia Chinedu. She came in towards the end of 2007. I wouldn’t sa that when Ogo left, it really shook me but it was like a dream being shattered but Vivian was alaways the strong one. She would always say I shouldn’t worry that everything was going to be fine. She was always there to encourage me when things weren’t going too well. She wasn’t just a friend; she was like a big sister. At the end of the day, Innocentia came and everything started going well.
Why I left IBAN
I loved my group and had so much passion for it and I was ready to do everything humanly possible to endure that my group got to the very top but towards the end of last year, after my birthday on September 23rd, I realized I didn’t achieve the things I set out to achieve in the beginning of the year and that really hurt. I felt I was being drawn back and I just wanted to do something. I made up my mind that from that day henceforth, I wanted to take charge of my life so that if tomorrow I fail, I would take full responsibility and take kudos for success if all turns out well. I didn’t want to drag IBAN back because I knew they had plans. We’re like sisters and I knew there was no way I could pull through with the IBAN project. I realized that if I forced myself on IBAN, it wouldn’t turn out well. It takes a while for me to make up my mind on thing like this but when I do, I don’t look back. I called Vivian and Innocentia, we had a meeting and I told them that I was leaving the group. I told them I needed to take a break because I had to think about what I was going to do with my life. I told them I was embarking on a solo journey and I wouldn’t want to drag them back. I wouldn’t want a situation where the group would have a show and I would start giving excuses. They told me to think and pray about it. I told them I would and a few days after, we had a show and as fate would have it, I wasn’t feeling well at all and I told them I was ill. I told them to come and check on me if they were in doubt. They eventually went for the show without me but I tried to maintain friendship with them. However, is started noticing their cold disposition towards me so I decided to stay on my own.
IBAN still exists
No reason at all. IBAN didn’t break up. I left IBAN. I left IBAN because I felt I just didn’t belong there anymore. I just needed to explore more grounds. I took the pain of deciding to do my own thing and I’ll let the public judge.
Folks
My parents are in Auchi. My dad is a businessman. He works with Auchi Polytechnic and he runs his own business. I’m the first in my family. I’m the Ada and they expect a lot from me. I’m an Ibo girl so that’s the way it is. My dad wasn’t in support of me going into entertainment. He was against it because he wanted me to go to school. My dads wanted me to be a pharmacist. My mum wanted me to be an accountant.
What’s the favourite part of your body?
I love every part of my body. God has blessed me with a terrific figure. I like the fact that I’m chubby. [Shedding the cloak of timidity, she declares] I also have a very nice bum and I love that.
Word to my fans
I love them all and I wan to urge them to believe in their dreams. Don’t let anybody tell you you’re not good enough. I was once in the studio recording when somebody came in, listened to my song for a while and raised the impression that my song wouldn’t see the light of day. Rather than be discouraged or set back, he gave me more reason to prove him wrong. That’s the kind of spirit I expect young artistes to have. Live your dream and uphold the ‘can do’ spirit.
Sixthsense34@yahoo.com
Former IBAN girl, Ifeyinwa Charity Arinze popularly known as Ephy is presently torn between fulfilling her dreams of making success of her musical career and giving in to the floods of demands from men.
While she works day and night to build a legacy out of her budding musical career, her male admirers also burn the candles in their bids to conquer her heart and lure it into their palace of erotic possibilities. Such is the irony that trails the story of former IBAN (a three-girl singing group) girl.
Speaking with SimplySamad, Ephy formerly known as Ify (while with IBAN) speaks on how she strikes a balance between her love for music and the distraction from her male fans and admirers who constantly plot means to lure her into relationships and ultimately; into bed. “I can be really crazy. I’m telling that it could get very crazy because the thing in vogue as far as I’m concerned is marriage. They tell me that once I give them the signal, they would want to see my parents. It’s so funny because I’ve come to realize that I man can say anything just to get a woman. Right now, I have to set my priorities right and dating is not one of the things I’m doing right now. I feel that being in a relationship and doing music is like serving two masters and I don’t see myself doing that. I want to finish my album, bring it out then maybe I’ll have time for the guy that comes along.”
Ephy also spoke on the story on why she left her former group and her plans to kick-start her solo career with her forthcoming album.
Meet Ephy
I’m from Auchi in Edo State. Christian. I attended at Modern Ideal College (MIC), Enugu and Ambrose Ali University, Ekpoma where I had my diploma in criminology. I wanted to study law but I couldn’t get in so took a course related to law so I could switch when I was done with the diploma programme. That was why I studied criminology because it was the closets to law in my school at the time. I never planned to be a police officer or anything like that. Right from time, I always wanted to be a lawyer. It was a big dream. As for entertainment, I have always had a natural love for it. I’m a movie freak. Sometimes, I would ask my dad to buy movies all the time. A video club once asked me to give them my movies so that they could expand their video club. I started acting in 2005. That drew me into entertainment and I started with acting. My first movie was with Genevieve, Sam Dede and some others. The title of the movie was ‘Bumper to Bumper.’ After that I did strange affection, Love and marriage, Blames of Memories and many others. I’ve always wanted to do music so I started by managing a group called ‘X5.’
My solo career
I used to Ify while with IBAN but I’m now Ephy (Exotic Pretty Hot Youth). The guy who was writing songs for IBAN is the same guy who now writes songs for me. I told him I wanted a ten-track album so he wrote me some songs. His name is Tom Xclaim. He’s an artiste as well. He wrote the popular songs for IBAN, Burn Fire and Pump It. He wrote 80% of the songs for IBAN. I wrote three songs for IBAN. IBAN never came out with an album but we had singles. We had our album ready but it never came out. We had about 11 tracks. I recently learn that IBAN is on the verge of releasing their album. They recently shot a video at Options Club with Akin Alabi. I was not informed so I’m just trying to do my own thing because when we were in IBAN, we were sponsoring ourselves. It wasn’t as if we had a sponsor or a marketer. We just pulled our resources together to make things work. The name we had for the IBAN album was ‘Pump It’ but it never came out and I don’t know what name they have for it now. When Ogo left, we took out her voice from the songs and out in Innocentia’s own. Now that I’m out, my voice will definitely be off the songs.
How I got hooked on Rhyme Squad record label
I gathered resources, spoke to some of my friends in December last year hoping to do something concrete by February this year as regards my album but at the end of the day, there was this movie I did; ‘Died for Conscience.’ Someone watched the film in Amsterdam, fell in love with the movie and called the marketer. He asked to get my number and the marketer called me to inform me that somebody called him from Amsterdam saying he has a business proposal for me. I said it was ok so he gave the guy my number. He called me and said he had seen my video, ‘Burn Fire’ on Youtube. He said he didn’t know I was an actress as well. He said he has a record label and he has just one artiste signed, Samma Rhymes who is recording with Puffy Tee at the moment. When I told him I had gone solo, he said it was better as it enable me penetrate his label, ‘Rhyme Squad.’ He said I should take it to the label. He said if it was good enough, that we would be able to do business. I went to them, they listened to my stuff and they said it was cool and that they were ready to work with me. They said they would have to reproduce every track with their own producer. I said it was fine. We started attending meetings and we wrapped up the deal. My ten-track album will be coming out soon but I’m still working with a couple of guys in the industry. I finished working with K-Solo recently and I’ll was with Cabasa on April 9th. Puffy Tee will be my last point of call. Hopefully, by the end of this month, I should have completed works for my album and I have some artistes I want to feature on the album. My album will be titled ‘Set to Go.’ I’ll be working on my videos soon.
Relationships
I’m not married. Right now, I’m going to be very honest with you. I don’t want to disclose anything about my relationship. I don’t want to disclose details of my relationship right now. I’m definitely in a relationship but I wouldn’t want to start talking about it now but when the time comes, you’ll know. When the time is right it’s not gong to be a hidden thing. I’m not going to have a secret wedding. I’m going to be very proud of my husband; even if he lives abroad, he’s going to have to come to Nigeria because this is where I am and this is where my fans and people are. My families are here so why would I want to go and have a wedding where people won’t see me. Even if I must have two weddings, I would. I’ll have my wedding and everybody is going to know about it.
How singing started
While acting, I decided to infuse music into it. So I started with managing. The group I was managing was made up of my friends in school; two guys and two girls. Two of them were pastor’s children and were already singing for the choir. As time went by, they encouraged me to sing and made me understand that I had a very good voice. So I thought I would give it a try. The guys started the problem with the group and they wouldn’t respect me because they were all older than I was. When I bring ideas, they wouldn’t accept it because they still considered me their little friend.
The birth of IBAN
At a point, I told one of the girls, Vivian Richards that I was thinking about starting a three-girl musical group and she said she had been thinking about the same thing as well. So, we decided to get a third person. Finally, we got Ogo Nwosu as the third girl and we formed IBAN in 2006. All of a sudden, Ogo made it clear that she could no longer cope with the fame and popularity because people were beginning to call us for interviews and shows. She said she didn’t know IBAN was going to grow that big and told us that she couldn’t cope with that kind of lifestyle. She said she wanted her privacy, which she felt she was losing with IBAN. At that point, she said she wanted to leave IBAN. We couldn’t hold her down so we told her that she was free to pull out if she wanted to. She however said she could still hang in till we got a replacement so it wouldn’t look as if she left us stranded and we appreciated the fact that she came out sincerely. We told her not to worry that we would find a way around it. Ogo eventually left IBAN in 2007. We got a replacement for Ogo, Innocentia Chinedu. She came in towards the end of 2007. I wouldn’t sa that when Ogo left, it really shook me but it was like a dream being shattered but Vivian was alaways the strong one. She would always say I shouldn’t worry that everything was going to be fine. She was always there to encourage me when things weren’t going too well. She wasn’t just a friend; she was like a big sister. At the end of the day, Innocentia came and everything started going well.
Why I left IBAN
I loved my group and had so much passion for it and I was ready to do everything humanly possible to endure that my group got to the very top but towards the end of last year, after my birthday on September 23rd, I realized I didn’t achieve the things I set out to achieve in the beginning of the year and that really hurt. I felt I was being drawn back and I just wanted to do something. I made up my mind that from that day henceforth, I wanted to take charge of my life so that if tomorrow I fail, I would take full responsibility and take kudos for success if all turns out well. I didn’t want to drag IBAN back because I knew they had plans. We’re like sisters and I knew there was no way I could pull through with the IBAN project. I realized that if I forced myself on IBAN, it wouldn’t turn out well. It takes a while for me to make up my mind on thing like this but when I do, I don’t look back. I called Vivian and Innocentia, we had a meeting and I told them that I was leaving the group. I told them I needed to take a break because I had to think about what I was going to do with my life. I told them I was embarking on a solo journey and I wouldn’t want to drag them back. I wouldn’t want a situation where the group would have a show and I would start giving excuses. They told me to think and pray about it. I told them I would and a few days after, we had a show and as fate would have it, I wasn’t feeling well at all and I told them I was ill. I told them to come and check on me if they were in doubt. They eventually went for the show without me but I tried to maintain friendship with them. However, is started noticing their cold disposition towards me so I decided to stay on my own.
IBAN still exists
No reason at all. IBAN didn’t break up. I left IBAN. I left IBAN because I felt I just didn’t belong there anymore. I just needed to explore more grounds. I took the pain of deciding to do my own thing and I’ll let the public judge.
Folks
My parents are in Auchi. My dad is a businessman. He works with Auchi Polytechnic and he runs his own business. I’m the first in my family. I’m the Ada and they expect a lot from me. I’m an Ibo girl so that’s the way it is. My dad wasn’t in support of me going into entertainment. He was against it because he wanted me to go to school. My dads wanted me to be a pharmacist. My mum wanted me to be an accountant.
What’s the favourite part of your body?
I love every part of my body. God has blessed me with a terrific figure. I like the fact that I’m chubby. [Shedding the cloak of timidity, she declares] I also have a very nice bum and I love that.
Word to my fans
I love them all and I wan to urge them to believe in their dreams. Don’t let anybody tell you you’re not good enough. I was once in the studio recording when somebody came in, listened to my song for a while and raised the impression that my song wouldn’t see the light of day. Rather than be discouraged or set back, he gave me more reason to prove him wrong. That’s the kind of spirit I expect young artistes to have. Live your dream and uphold the ‘can do’ spirit.
By Samod Biobaku
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