Alex O: The bubbling and shuffling years

Alex O’s ‘Celebrate’ was one of the songs that stood tall in the 1990s when most Nigerians preferred to listen and dance to songs by American artistes. But this mega hit was the darling at most parties and beckoned the listener to dance with its bubbling and shuffling after the bustling and hustling lyrics.

A true star, born Alex Okoroigwe from Imo State, Nigeria, Alex O, a pop musician, singer, songwriter and producer helped to keep the flame of Nigerian music lighted alongside musicians like Ras Kimono, Mike Okri, Orits Wiliki, Blackky, Daniel Wilson, Mandators and a host of others in those trying days when not many in the country gave it a chance.

His music career started when he joined Steve Rhodes as a singer. He went on to the Lemmy Jackson Music Company where he worked as a production assistant and songwriter and in 1988, was signed to PolyGram Records, which was later known as Premier Music of Nigeria.

Alex O, who has businesses in New York, Singapore, Nigeria and South Africa, suddenly left the country in the search for greener pastures most likely because there was really not that much money to be made from Nigerian music in the 1990s. While away in Singapore and later South Africa, Alex O returned to school to study film and animation and is now fully into animation, music composition and film production. The CEO of DigiAudioVisuals, an entertainment company based in South Africa, has been working assiduously to re-launch his music career.

Alex O married Nollywood actress and producer, Oby Edozie in 2011, with whom he has two children.