Dayo Adeneye reveals how he rose from nothing to a household name
By Temitope Ojo
speaking on his grace-to-grace story.
At Success Stories Africa gathering in Lagos, the Ogun State Commissioner for Information and Strategy opened up about his rise from practically nothing to becoming a household name in Nigeria’s showbiz terrain and now politics.
“My father was upset that I returned from America and chose to do
music at the time music was regarded as a job fit for dropouts alone.
When Kenny Ogungbe and I started working at Raypower and I was paid
N17, 000 a month. We were doing what we enjoyed doing and at some
point, Kenny and I didn’t even know we were being owed seven months.
My wife left me and took the kids to America.
“We were charging N60, 000 for anyone to book 2Face we thought we had arrived. At the time we started, the late Afrobeat legend, Fela was
being paid N25, 000 per show; he was the highest paid Nigerian
artiste.
“These days some Nigerian artistes even charge N15m per show.
“One day I woke up and realised that my salary is 17,000 a month. The
seven years I worked at Ray Power were my happiest moments but I was
so broke. I sold all my four cars and was left with 1 car at the end
of the day. I even moved from a 3 bedroom to a one bedroom in Ebute
Metta. My first wife left me because I was broke. I didn’t even realize that I was broke until my dad came a certain day and said he needed money. I told him I have not been paid. I told him I was being owed seven months’ salary he asked me to go resign. I told him it was difficult because I was the director of marketing. I felt I was already a star I didn’t know my blessings was just around the corner.
Ben Bruce called Kenny and I three months after and they gave us
primetime belt- 8 pm to host our show. We made so much money that in three months we bought a Hummer and Range Rover landed shortly after.
“I worked for Raypower for seven years and I didn’t have a day off I
didn’t know until I quit. And when I did, I slept for three months.
But we enjoyed working there. We were just two young men having fun
and setting a foundation for Kennis Music and Primetime Africa. If I
never left America with Kenny I won’t have been here today. If I
weren’t kicked out of Raypower I wouldn’t have founded Kennis Music and Primetime Africa oo overprotective,” he said.
D1, 58, started the AIT Jamz music show alongside his close friend
Kenny Ogungbe, and their platform went on to discover and promote
music superstars including 2Baba, Tony Tetuila, Paul Play Dairo,
Eedris Abdulkareem and many others. After which in 2015, he ventured into politics and he is the currently the spokesman for Ogun State government.
