Music Icon, Onyeka Onwenu is dead
Legendary Nigerian singer and actress,Onyeka Onwenu, has reportedly died at the age of 72.
She was said to have died on Tuesday night at Lagos’ Reddington Hospital after collapsing during Mrs Stella Okoli’s birthday party where she went to perform.
According to an eyewitness who attended the party corroborated the news.
“It is quite sad. Onyeka Onwenu just performed at Mrs. Stella Okoli’s birthday party today (Tuesday, July 30, 2024), and she slumped afterwards”.
Onyeka Onwenu was born on 31st January 1952 in Obosi, Anambra state. She is the youngest of 5 children.
She was a Singer/songwriter, actress, human rights and social activist, journalist, politician, and previous X Factor judge.
Originally a secular musician, Onwenu transitioned to gospel music in the 1990s, and the majority of her songs are self-penned.
She composed and sung about health (HIV/AIDS), peace and peaceful coexistence, women’s rights, and children’s plight
She was also the Imo State Council for Arts and Culture’s former chairperson was dubbed the “Elegant Stallion” by the Nigerian press.
In 2013, she was appointed Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer of the National Centre for Women’s Development.
ABOUT HER
Nigerian singer-songwriter, actress, human rights and social activist, journalist, politician, and X Factor series judge Onyeka Onwenu (31 January 1952 – 30 July 2024).Onwenu, who served as chair of the Imo State Council for Arts and Culture, was known as the “Elegant Stallion” because of her profound influence on African entertainment and culture.She was named the National Center for Women Development’s Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer in 2013.
Early life
Onwenu’s birthday is January 31, 1952. Although she was reared in Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State, Nigeria, she was originally from Aradizuogu, a large town in Ideato North, Imo State, in southeast Nigeria. She was the youngest child of Nigerian politician and educationist D. K. Onwenu. He lost her father at the age of four in a car accident, one week before he was appointed Minister of Education. Hope, his widow, raised their five children on her own after her husband’s family forbade her from accessing his property.
Education
With a BA in International Relations and Communication from Wellesley College in Massachusetts and an MA in Media Studies from The New School for Social Research in New York, Onwenu held two distinguished degrees.Before coming back to Nigeria in 1980 to finish her one-year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) with the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) in Lagos, Nigeria, she worked as a tour guide for the United Nations.
