EXCLUSIVE: THE BIG GOSPEL BREAK-UP!!!

They went down on their knees together during this year's Groove awards at KICC. They've gone on stage countless times and wowed the crowd for the past one year. But now they are no more.....wont even stand the sight of each other. This is Daddy Owen, the King of Kapungala and Alan Aron, the Mukorino singer with a swagger. Trouble started less than a month ago, after the Nibebe Tour held in Nakuru in July. They went on stage and performed their hit collabo 'Kiriro', but that was the last time they two went on stage together. Two Sundays ago, on August 15, things took a different turn during the Nibebe-Nyeri tour. Their differences over the song 'Kiriro' had gone to the climax. According to very close sources, Alan claims the sole rights of the song, while Owen claims he actually financed the whole 'Kiriro' project, from recording the track to the shooting of the video. Owen seems to be making a kill out of the song while Alan, the original composer, is still struggling to mint anything out of it.
So what happened in Nyeri?
The show was to start from 1pm to 6pm, which it did. Alan was backstage at 1pm sharp, and requested to sing early enough, together with the curtain-raisers, something that surprised the organisers. He was the fourth artiste to go on stage after Loise Kim and Ben Githae and a couple of other Nyeri-based artistes. On stage, he only performed 'Wemutheru' and 'Kiriro' and after that, he was out of Nyeri 20 minutes later. Owen on the other side, accompanied by Danco, came to the venue at 5pm, straight from Nairobi. When he went on stage, Owen and Danco only performed 'System ya Kapungala' and 'Tobina'. They never touched 'Kiriro', even when the fans requested for it. In a normal performance, Alan would go on stage first and get off, then when Owen's turn comes, he would perform 'System ya Kapungala', then invite Alan and sing 'Kiriro' together, and he finally finishes with 'Tobina'. And this happened in Nakuru, but not Nyeri.
The same scenario played at Safaricom Face-off concert last weekend, held in Nairobi's KICC. This time, Owen had a better excuse of coming to the event late; he was down with chicken pox.
The can of worms in gospel industry have began......watch this space for the juiciest of them all.

CMB LENDS HIS SECURITY TO AY AND FA

CMB Prezzo, the self-proclaimed King of Bling, is not going down, at least not yet. Last Saturday, he decided to give his security detail to Bongo musicians AY and Mwana FA, who were accompanied by their country manager Maleek Buddy and Fundi Frank. As they attended the Safaricom Face-Off concert at KICC, the four were heavily guarded with Prezzo's chief security, Oti, leading the team. They were later spotted at different nightspots in Hurlingham and Westlands. Prezzo, too, joined the team later in the evening.

DNG GRADUATES

Hypeman-cum-musician-cum-event organiser-cum-radio and TV presenter, DNG, is going places. Together with hundreds of other students from all over Africa, DNG was among the graduands at the United States International University (USIU) last Saturday. He graduated with a degree in International Business Administration. "I'm a very happy man now and since I've been working hard in my other careers, I will make good use of my degree too," he said. DNG is a presenter at Kiss FM, a TV host at Kiss TV, a popular musician, hypeman and the owner of 254 Entertainment, an event organising company. A Kora award winner, DNG made entertainment headlines when he made the big switch from gospel to secular about three years ago.

A TALE OF MAINA KAGENI AND HIS HUMMER

Now we know what happens to the black Hummer, owned by Classic 105 breakfast presenter Maina Kageni, every time he's away. He leaves it behind to two people, Churchill and Shaffie Weru! And yes, they make good use of it. Two weekends ago, Churchill made an entrance with the tough car at Nibebe Tour in Nyeri, carrying fellow MC, Alemba of System Unit, and Wazee Wetu of 'Sudu' fame song. Last weekend, Kiss FM presenter had it and was doing rounds all over Nairobi's night spots. On board was Mwana FA and AY. Shaffie's Mercedes ML 500 was with his babymama Debbie Asila, hanging out at Club Galileos with Shinde, a club Shaffie stayed out of bounds the entire night.

CHURCHILL LIVE FOR NEXT MONTH

Churchill on stage at the Carnivore

NTV will have another opportunity to air the hit comedy show Churchill Live-Season 2, starting next month. The show will be recorded in a mega dome at the Carnivore grounds, which can hold about 2,000 people as live audience. Bob Nyanja will still produce the show and Safaricom is the title sponsor this time round. Stay tuned.

RINGTONE TO AUCTION HIS CAR FOR CHARITY

Gospel musician Ringtone is about to auction his Toyota Celica for a charity purpose. The former street kid, popularly known for his hit 'Pamela', will announce soon the date when the auction will be done to the highest bidder.
"The sports car is being souped up again but the day it will be finished will determine the auction day," said Ringtone, who now drives a four-wheel-drive Nissan Patrol. He plans to buy land with the money and develop a talent centre, which will have a fully-equipped studio, voice-training centre and music instruments school, all targeting the talented but less fortunate youths. "I made it through hardships and this is my time to give back. I hope I can be able to make more less-fortunate youths realise their dreams," he said. The auction day will be marked with a big concert, he says, all proceeds going towards the establishment of the centre.

AY AND FA TO HEADLINE FACE-OFF

Bongo Flava's finest stars, AY and Mwana FA, will be jetting in on Friday morning for the Safaricom Face-Off concert on Saturday. According to their country manager, Maleek Buddy, the two artistes will be coming from a series of shows in Tanzania and parts of Europe. They will also be officially launching their new collabo, "Usije Mjini", which is already a big hit in Tanzania, continued Buddy. It is also rumored that Buddy has managed to get Ray C a chance to perform in the Face-Off concert. Ray C is still in the country, Buddy confirmed.

RAY C NOW TURNS HEAT ON CELLULANT

Bongo musician Ray C drama is far from over. She has now redirected her heat to Cellulant, accusing them of selling her ringtones, yet she has never been paid. Ray C's Kenyan manager, Maleek Buddy,is currently holding talks with the management of Cellulant as the drama with Sadat and Maliza Umaskini continues. Buddy has also landed Ray C a deal to perform in next weekend's Safaricom Face Off show at KICC.

SADAT: "RAY C WAS UNDER INFLUENCE'

Promoter-cum-politician Sadat has defended his move to cancel Ray C's Kenyan tour. According to Sadat, he was not happy with the way Ray C conducted herself from the airport to Club Summit in Nakuru. "She was under influence and I actually saved her from embarrassing herself on stage. She was almost taking all her clothes off on stage," said Sadat. He has also denied rumors that he wanted to sleep with Ray C.
"I didn't send her any suggestive messages as she claims. If I had any problem, why did I pay for her boyfriend's air ticket to Nairobi?" he asks. Meanwhile, Sadat has canceled Ray C's and her boyfie's tickets back to Dar, that means they have to pay their own air tickets.

RAY C: "THE PROMOTER WANTED TO SLEEP WITH ME."

Ray C has now revealed that the promoter of her Kenyan tour, Sadat, wanted to sleep with her. Apparently, before she came to Kenya, Sadat flew to Dar on a 'business trip'. "Sadat told me that he was on a business trip but kept on sending me sex-related messages, which I still have on my phone. I was shocked because I didn't expect that from him," she said. Apparently, drama started when Ray C went to meet Sadat accompanied by her boyfriend Lord Eye, something that didn't go down well with the promoter, an aspiring politician from Kitale.
"It became worse when I showed up at the airport with Lord Eye, and Sadat became completely pissed off. Because I refused to sleep with him in Dar, then I come to Kenya with my boyfriend, he started creating excuses to cancel my show," she said. Ray C is yet to be paid $9,000, even after her shows were canceled.

DRAMA AS RAY C'S KENYAN TOUR CANCELLED

Bongo's female star Rehema Chalamila, popularly known as Ray C, is back in Nairobi, as drama ensued between her and her promoters in Nakuru last weekend. Ray C, was meant to do a series of shows in Kenya this month and finally wind up the tour in Southern Sudan's capital, Juba. According to close sources, the Kenyan tour alone was supposed to earn the musician $10,000 (about KSh800,000), and the agreement was that she gets her downpayment upon arrival at Jomo Kenyatta international airport. She was to get the rest before she goes on stage in her first show, which was in Nakuru last Saturday. The promoters, with musician Refigah as their spokesman, did not honor the agreement at the airport but still proceeded for the Nakuru show. Ray C did not complain as she went on stage and wowed the crowd. Real trouble started when fans asked for more songs and Refigah had to snatch the microphone from Ray C and cut the show. The promoters started accusing her of going against the agreement, and she was forced to take a cab to her hotel. On Sunday morning, the promoters phones were all off and when Ray C managed to raise one of them, she was threatened and told to go back to Dar es Salaam. Ray C's country manager, Maleek Buddy, was away on a business trip and was forced to fly back to Nairobi to meet Ray C and solve the issue. By Sunday evening, Buddy had arrived and was handling the matter withe the police.

TOXIC TURNS TO MUSIC

She has made a career in dance, through her group Toxic Dancers. Now the founder, Toxic, real names Juliet Machabo, has gone to the recording studios and will be releasing songs soon. "I want to try music, not that I'm leaving dance, but I wanna see where it can take me," she said. Toxic rose to fame while still in high school, at State House Girls, and she has never looked back. Toxic dancers were in Wyclef Jean's performance team at the MAMAs last year. Will she hack it in music?

ARTISTES GOT PAID TO CAMPAIGN FOR REFERENDUM

Wonder why an artiste would wake up and attend a press conference at 10 am? Money! Money must be involved. Slightly over a month ago, a group of artistes, ranging from Nameless to Nonini, Suzana Owiyo, Abura, Wawesh, Amani, Juliani, Avril, Wyre, to mention but a few, had a press conference at Alliance Francaise, backed by Committee of Experts on the proposed constitution. In the conference, Kenyans for Change 2010 (K4C10) told the media that they will be going round the country through concerts, mainly to urge Kenyans to read the draft and make a wise decision. Nonini was quoted saying: "All the artistes are here because they want change. We are not paid, our travel and accommodation are just being facilitated." Yesterday, singer Amani contradicted his sentiments, saying: "Of course we were paid, good money indeed. Do you think I'd go round the country and not make any cash while the budget is there?"
Sources indicate that over Sh20 million was dished out to produce the joint song, 'Amua', by COE. Artistes were paid well, that's why they could afford to travel with dancers all over. So who are we going to believe?

As Madhouse looks for new premises, Choices Club on Baricho Road is up for sale. The owner is looking for a buyer who will pay cash. Choices is famously known for it's rock night on Sundays, among other nights. The management has been changed several times, greatly affecting the clients flow, and that's why the club is currently not doing that good.

RINGTONE AND MAJIMAJI IN A COLLABO?

It's getting stranger as time goes by! Majimaji, now working at Ghetto Radio, has done a collabo with gospel musician Ringtone, famous for his song 'Pamela'. The product? It's either Maji has gone gospel or Ringtone is sliding to the secular world. The song is called 'Talanta' and the video will be shot this week.

OUSMAN SEES THE LIGHT!

Wonder where reggae musician Ousmane is? Wonder no more. He is planning a comeback, on the other side of music. Ousmane has confessed that he saw the light a few months ago and is now working on new gospel music. "I have recorded already, it's just being mixed now. I want to inspire people with my music and also uplift my God through music," he said. He has even cut his dreadlocks.