U-turn with Jerry: Ebony’s cry on 16th February!

Exactly 20 years ago, in December 1997, I was writing my final WASSSCE but I was upbeat about what the future held for me after secondary school education.

Seven months earlier, a little girl had been born on February 16 and was named Priscilla Opoku-Kwarteng. February 16 is the 47th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 318 days remaining for the end of the year (319 in leap years).

On this day in the year 600 AD, Pope Gregory the Great decreed that saying "God bless You" is the correct response to a sneeze. On February 16, 1659, the first known cheque issued for £400, was put on display at Westminster Abbey.

Although Venezuela was officially neutral in most of the war, it secretly supported its Allies, and eventually declared war on the Axis powers in February 1945,

So on that fateful day on February 16, 1997, while I was preparing to sit for my WASSSCE at St. John’s Grammar School, Ghana heard the piercing cry of a newborn baby girl. She is Priscilla Opoku-Kwarteng but known in showbiz as ‘Ebony’.

Her cry at the time was piercing because she probably was hungry and asking her mother ‘why aren’t you feeding me?

Sometimes she would whine as a means to tell her mother ‘I am tired help me sleep!’.

But 20 years on, and here I am today standing by that lady who has taken the music industry by storm and killed Patapaa’s “One Corner’ dance craze. Oh yea, age is just a number as it is said.

In just one year or a little more than that, Ebony has been the talking point on social media and has dominated discussions on entertain programmes.

Today, Ebony’s voice is no longer ‘piercing’ nor ‘whinny’. Her vocal production is what has become the most sought after at outdoor events. From ‘Poison’ to ‘Sponsor’ to ‘Date your father’ and finally to ‘Hustle (Mo ndi me dwa)’.

Her vocal gift is admired by many; it is powerful and refreshing to listen to.

Talk of Hi-life great Daddy Lumba and you won’t be wrong situating Ebony by his side. The lyrics in the music composed by these two may come across to most people as vulgar but they seem to tell a story.

It was her song ‘Sponsor’ that caught my attention. The words in the chorus are what usually stir controversy but that song tells the story of a frustrated lady who dates an elderly man capable of meeting her material needs.

Unfortunately, the man lacks the ability to satisfy her emotions; always complaining of his waist. Her young, energetic but poor boyfriend is able to give her that satisfaction but cannot feed her when she is hungry.

Is that one too a boyfriend?

She’s got talent! But how do we handle her other side, especially her dressing? In my candid opinion, it is not good and I think we must help her to shape up instead of shipping her out.

I am 'Bonyfied!'

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