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| Cecil Hammond and Tiwa |
up this picture and posted on IG, “This pic means a lot to me, thank you@cecilhammond.”
does not forget kind gestures. That she decided putting up this picture says it
all —she is grateful to Cecil Hammond, CEO Flytime Entertainment, who picked
her from nobody and helped her to be whoever she is today.
written by Azuka Ogujiuba, the Thisday reporter, who happened to interview Tiwa
Savage on the marital crisis she was facing with her estranged husband, Tunji
Balogun, in a video that went viral over two weeks ago.
The Tales Of Woe,’ Azuka chronicled in Thisday newspaper of May 14, 2016, how
she met Tiwa at Elohor Aisen’s wedding in London, Tiwa’s compliments of her
daughter’s pink dress and how she was impressed by her voice.
Fast-forward to Nigeria when Cecil Hammond
wanted the writer to interview a new female act.
Azuka recalled: “A few months after I met
her, I got a call from Cecil Hammond who said he wanted me to meet and
interview a new female act. I avoided Cecil for as long as I could, but he kept
harassing me with phone calls and text messages because I always gave him an
appointment I never honoured. I underestimated her in my thought; “Which yeye hot female act be that? Which
female act will be bigger than my girl, Omawumi?” What will she be singing
differently? And besides, when they become big, they stop taking your calls or
even say ‘hello’ when they see you.”
Azuka continued: “It might interest you to
know that despite my nonchalance towards Cecil, he never gave up on me. It got
to a point I had to ask him to call someone else to do the interview, but he
insisted he wanted me to do it. Cecil believed so much in Tiwa, he praised her
talents to high heavens. He shared with me a brief story about her life and
career until I eventually succumbed. When I got to him, behold, it was the same
lady who had said some of the nicest things about my daughter the other day in
London. Then I remembered humans are like a river; we flow and meet again in a
chain of events. Tiwa and I recognised each other, hugged and exchanged
pleasantries. I felt so bad when I realised it was her. We all got chatting
immediately and that was when Tiwa realised I was a journalist. We exchanged
telephone numbers and BBM pins. Of course, I was excited to do her first ever
interview then, if I’m not mistaken.
“Later on,
Cecil called me again and said, “I really need you to assist this lady, we have
to push her out there; you just watch and see, she is going to be the biggest
female act in this country.” So, Cecil kept sending promotional materials on
Tiwa to me to publish in Thisday Newspaper.
“If memory
serves me well, she released ‘Kele Kele’, ‘Love me Love me ’, ‘Ife Wa
Gbona’, ‘Do as I do with P Square’. She started with Cecil Hammond’s Flytime
Entertainment in 2010. She attended the BET awards in 2011 while she was still
with Flytime and also shot ‘Love Me Love Me’ video. Her first shows with Cecil
Hammond was the Silverbird 30th anniversary, then the Rhythm Unplugged show, AY
live, Star Mega jam, among others. Tiwa was rising fast and gradually becoming
a household name in the music industry.”
See why this
picture means a lot to Mama Jamil?