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| Femi Solar and his Wife and Son |
Femi Oladele, also known as Femi Solar, is a popular name in the gospel music industry. With six albums to his credit, Femi said his journey has just begun and would not lose sleep over his success. Read the interview here:
What led you into music? Or was it something you had to do to survive?
That’s very funny. The surviving aspect makes me laugh. I don’t even know how I found my way into music. Honestly, I don’t understand. I have always had the passion for music when I was young. I could remember that when I was young, I sang at different churches and I was always singing at one point or the other. In fact, any church I attended then, I was giving the opportunity to lead the choir because I liked to compose and arrange songs a lot. I formed a music group then at Bible Life Holiness Ministry and released an album. I think that should be in 1999. The album was entitled Orun (sun).
Is that why they call you Femi Orun?
Yes, when I released the album, there was a track in it called Ojo n rebi ana, Orun re bi atiwo, meaning (Let’s make hay while the sun shine). Since then, the name has stuck.
So, why did you change it to Solar?
It was not that I woke up one day and decided to change it. I felt I could change it since Solar actually derives its energy from the sun. No one can look into the sun. But I released my first album when I was in secondary secondary and the name Femi Orun came up from the album. After releasing the album, I was discussing with my uncle Femi Fadipe, who is also known as Femo lacanster and his friend Yatty, who is Yinka Ayefele’s back up singer. We used to do jingles for people before. So one day, Yatty said, why don’t you let us start calling you Femi Orun instead of Solar. That was how Femi Orun came to being.
I know you are close to Yinka Ayefele, how did you meet him?
We met at Taiwo Adegbodu twins’ event in Awe. Before then, I had always wanted to meet Yinka Ayefele, so when the opportunity to meet him at the event came, I gleefully embraced it.
Why did you want to meet him?
I wanted to meet him because we are from the same home town and my mum was very close to him when they were at home. After sometime, he invited me to his office and we spoke at lenght. I felt I could learn more from him and I am glad that I met him. Meeting him has helped me a great deal. Before then, I had met with Yinka Ayefele’s younger brother, Laolu Ayefele, who actually trained me on how to prepare jingles on radio for advertisement. I was with him for two years before he travelled to London. I did the jingle business for a while and I met with the man who owns Dan Ayo Travel Bureau when I did a jingle for him. He signed me and gave my music career a major boost. Like I said, the journey has not been smooth for me, but thank God for the jingle business, it helped me so much. I used the proceeds I made from the business to pay my school fees when I was at The Polytechnic Ibadan.
You studied Accountancy, why didn’t you pursue a career in that field?
Music to me, is a gift from God and I think I should let you know that I was a fan of anything that has to do with calculation or finance when I was young, which is why I chose to study Accountancy at the Higher Institution. Though, I planned to seek a white collar job after graduating from school but that was not to be. I thank God that I chose music over other things.
You were once known as Yinka Ayefele’s boy. In fact, not many people would know that you are not related by blood. But recently, news had it that things have gone awry between the two of you. Could you tell us what actually happened?
The truth of the matter is that uncle Yinka and I are not fighting. I have heard a lot of stories about this issue and I am not happy about what I am hearing. I have told those who care to listen and I will repeat it again, Yinka Ayefele is my god-father, my mentor and my everything. I am surprised that people have been peddling rumour about our relationship and it is very unfortunate. These people are responsible for what is happening between uncle Yinka and I. They are the ones feeding him with bad tales about me and the same people will still come back to tell me another version of the story which I know very well. Even if you ask uncle Yinka if he’s having any issues with me, he would tell you no and I will tell people the same. Up till now, I still respect him so much. I won’t have mentioned him in my last album if we are having problems.
If you are not having issues as you have said, why are you not on talking terms?
How do you know we are not on speaking terms?
People say you are not, are you?
When we were on tour in US, we talked often, but when we came back to Nigeria, we have not been talking. I sent him a message on his birthday. I have cordial relationship with his band boys and his manager. The issue is very sensitive, so one has to be very careful.