My Mum Never Want Me To Be A Musician - Flavor Nabania

But for his doggedness and
determination, and, well, the God
factor, the singer, who is popularly
known as Flavour Nabania would
have missed out being the
multimillionaire music star that he is today.

Reason? His mother, Mrs
Onyinyechukwu Jane Okorie never
wanted her first child to go into music.

Rather, she had always dreamt and
hoped that he would become a
medical doctor since he was doing really well in his sciences.
But her son, whose real name is
Chinedu Izuchukwu Okorie, had other
ambitions.

Speaking on her initial opposition to
Flavour's musical dreams on this weekend's episode of the Supermom
Celebrity Edition, she says, "Those
days, nobody wanted their child to
become a musician because they used
to drink and they were wayward
people. I did not want that for my child. More so, even if he wanted to do
music, I said it should not be outside
the church but I didn't reckon with
what God had in stock for him." She
had genuine reasons for her
reservations for musicians.

It was an era when home-grown
musicians were hard done by the
economic situation of the country. It
was an era also when these
entertainers were no different from
the hoi-polloi. Flavour's mum was a lowly-paid clerk in the Anambra State
Board of Internal Revenue and she
was encumbered with training and
fending for five children. Most times, as
she reveals on the show, she had to
go to Onitsha -which was almost two hours away -every morning to return
at night.

Things were so bad she devised the
food code 101 (one in the morning,
nothing in the afternoon and one in
the evening) and in worse scenarios, it would be code 010. 'It was hard for
her as a civil servant to take care of
five of us' Flavour reveals. She
laboured to make sure her kids turn
out well.

Thus, when her first child started toeing the path of music, she was
understandably miffed. Indeed,
Flavour's position in the family thrust
many responsibilities on the reed-thin
young man and the family's economy
was in tatters so much that he had to start selling 'ice water' on the
streets of
Enugu where he is hero-worshipped
today.

These struggles did not break
the resolve of Flavour to make it big in
music. What kept him going however
was the fear of failure and what his mother would say if he didn't succeed.

"I saw my mum as my biggest
challenge and I was ready to prove
her wrong," he adds.
Thankfully, he has paid his dues and
the dividends are now rolling in. Riding on the huge success that has
trailed his second album, Uplifted,
which contains hit tracks like Ashawo
and Adamma, Flavour is one of the
breakout stars of the last five years,
and constantly referenced as the revivalist of a dying genre, highlife.

Today, Mrs Okorie is proud of her son
and the height of success he has
attained already. Even if she isn't
referred to as 'mama Doctor', she is
fulfilled to be called Mama Flavour. "Now, if any of my children wants to
go for music, I would give them my full
support," the proud mother says.