Looking back, it's strange that some Ghanaian musicians who came into the limelight with so much fire on the music front failed to breakthrough like many expected they would.
Read full articleEven though all the pieces they dropped were in place and they had a positive critical reputation, it was a challenge for them to preserve their brands with their musical kicks.
While musicians including, Sarkodie, Stonebowy, and Shatta Wale attained great feats locally and worldwide, some have completely failed in the music landscape.
Today Ghanaweb.com takes a look at 10 Ghanaian musicians who once had salient tunes but are struggling to shine again due to their numb careers.
This piece has nothing personal against anyone or group of persons but it will serve its purpose if it achieves the task of nudging some of our Ghanaian musicians.
Iwan
At a time when Ghanaian audience lived and breathed dancehall, Iwan released arguably, one of the biggest dancehall songs, “Who's Bad”. The song instantly became a certified jam and Ghanaians rocked to it for a long time.
Born Abdul Razak Issahaku, Iwan is a gifted singer with a supreme capacity to make hit songs. After “Who’s Bad”, the singer went ahead to drop another “killer” masterpiece “Thanks & Praise” which set the music industry on unstoppable intensity.
Affectionately called, “Lyrical Gunshot", Iwan, however, has failed to keep the fame he attained and has gone away from the music scene and claims, Ghanaians don’t listen to his songs again.
5Five
Talent is not hard to recognize and music duo 5Five clearly has a lot of it. This was not stiff to see as the astonishing performers rolled out scores of jams including “Move Back”, “African Girl”, “Gargantuan Body”, others.
After crashing the airwaves with “African Girl”, Joojo, who was a member of the group departed with them to go solo.
The rest of the members came back stronger than ever with another controversial song, “Gargantuan body”, which video contents had offensive images that violated the editorial policy and was banned by parliament.
Many of those who believed in 5Five and had hopes they will not depart in the music industry, ended up being disappointed as the group was unable to make a success of the opportunity they had.
However, the Adabraka-based duo made up of Luther Azamati (Papi) and Jeffery Opoku Agyekum (Killy) have not been seen anywhere in recent times.
Zigi
The former Lynx Entertainment signee who gained a solid reputation with his hit single “U say Wetin” 9 years ago remains one of the most loved acts.
Zigi’s “U say Wetin” brought “mad” dance craze on the streets of Ghana. He was loved by boys and girls. His uncanny energy enchanted a lot of music lovers and this was augmented by his vocal adroitness.
Even though he was signed unto a great management label, Zigi failed dreadfully in his endeavor to secure an enviable position in the Ghanaian music industry.
Screw Face
After Screwface got the country talking in 2007, with a post on Facebook saying he had lost the discovery of the year award at the Ghana Music Awards because he refused to pay bribe organizers demanded of him, the artiste has gone ‘missing’ from the scene.
Screw Face set dancefloors on fire with his highly-acclaimed single “Balagaza”. The song topped numerous charts for several weeks and helped the artist gain prominence.
Screw Face encountered a major difficulty in making his name and brand stick in the hearts of the audience. As his songs faded, Screw Face followed with it.
Dr. Slim
A fierce Ga singer who used to jump on beats and murdered them with ease, Dr. Slim, was on top of his game. Within a short period of time, Dr. Slim was considered to be one of the hitmakers of all time.
Dr. Slim has recorded and released an EP, mixtapes and collaborated with several acts including, defunct “Double” with the hit single, “Seke”.
Along the line when Slim’s fan base was enjoying enormous growth, the singer slipped and experienced a decline. He is nowhere to be found and the buzz he had managed to create vanished.
Asem
From ‘Bye Bye’, to ‘Give me blow’, ‘No More Kpayor’, ‘Pigaro’, and so many really thrilling tracks, Asem was indeed a force ro reckon with in Ghana's music industry.
However, none of the killer songs helped Nana Wiafe Asante-Mensah (Asem) remain in the limelight for long. He has not been on TV screens nor radio.
The singer was last heard about in 2016, where a photo of him was shared on social media. The picture stoke controversy with some suggesting that he was unwell and was battling with HIV. After several questions by fans, he denied the allegations.
Atom Reloaded
Late 2015, Atom Reloaded was one of the biggest figures in the Ghanaian music industry.
After winning the Hiplife Song of the Year in 2016 with “Y3 Wo Krom” Atom became a sensation. Unfortunately, same cannot be said now.
Promzy Afrika
Promzy, a former member of the VIP group came out strongly but had terrible issues somewhere in the middle of the journey.
The talented artiste in an interview revealed, that he left Prodigal and Zeal because the group (VIP) lost its spark.
After going solo, the artiste bounced back to music with “All About You” featuring Wolomei’s Naa and also recorded a song with Daddy Lumba. The songs are yet to see results though.
Cee
Cynthia Appiah-Kubi, known as Cee, is yet one of the best Gospel musicians Ghana has ever seen. Her creative game was on steroids and this has been evident in her hit songs such as “Kae Me, Nyame Ye Kese”.
She has a unique style and has the qualities of a gospel artist. She was able to catch the attention of the audience with her sensual voice.
Although Cee failed to live up to the hype. People lost interest in her and her music when much was no longer heard from her.
Okuraseni Samuel
Former mentor 1 contestant, Okuraseni Samuel, also gained attention in the music landscape after hitting the industry with “Homework” but was unable to uphold the devotion.
The artiste since 2013 has failed to warm the heart of Ghanaians with another jamming song.
Chase Forever
After pouring down his emotions in “Lonely,” in 2012, Chase Forever, has disappeared totally.
The curiosity increased when the artist who seemingly had potential and was expected to make an impact rather reappeared, in a different light, to condemn Counsellors like George Lutterodt over his consistent emotional cruelty and attacks on women.
Chemphe
After smashing the music industry with amazing tunes like ‘No Pampanaa’, ‘Why You Dey Beat Am’, ‘One People’, ‘Number One’ and ‘Left Over’ the botched highlife musician, Chemphe, claims he is strictly going Gospel.
After dropping ‘Mi Do, Yesu’ (Jesus My Love), Chemphe has been a quiet all year, leaving us with the impression that he is on a pause.