‘‘MY MELODIES ARE AGELESS’’-ACE SINGER YINKA DAVIS

                                                     

Ace singer, Yinka Davis turned 45 a few months ago, but the renowned diva did not make noise about it.in an interview with City People, she spoke about her life so far. Yinka Davis is a lyricist, vocalist, composer and entertainer. Yinka Davis born on the 16^th of July 1970 began her romance with the arts from a very early age. At the tender age of 9, she found out that she was always singing and dancing to music. Her late father who was an aeronautic engineer with the Nigerian Air Force, was also a lover of music. He was a composer and lyricist. He knew that Yinka had an affinity for the arts and so he encouraged her to follow her heart and achieve her dreams. Her major encounter with arts began in 1988 with Troupe Africana at the National Arts Theatre Lagos Nigeria. She blossomed under the tutelage of Ms. Lizzy Hammond, an international acclaimed choreographer, who brought out Yinka’s performing abilities in acting, dancing and eventually singing.

Yinka’s talent for acting and singing were furthered enhanced by Felix Okolo, a theatre director and Sam Uquah, a well-known musician. Yinka was once a back-up singer for Lagbaja, this encounter broke open her talents, not only as a singer but also as a composer, lyricist and particularly as an arranger. When asked how she discovered herself, she had this to say

‘‘I cannot say. I can only say overtime God has been good to me, I will love him forever. I grew up with music via all these television adverts. No television adverts that I don’t know, the sound, the tune, and a lot more. I got led into theatre and from theatre I started seeing things in 3 dimensions. That is from let say 6, 7, 8,9,10. By the time I was 15, we went for expedition and I saw the theatre. Wow! But I didn’t think I was going to be an entertainer. I wanted to be a fine artiste, just to draw, and to carve. I love forms, I love trees, and I love colours. I got into what am doing now by accident, by design. I have been so blessed. I have been in it for close to 28 years, in entertainment business generally till date.’’

Speaking on her music, especially now that Hip-Hop is almost taking over, she said ‘‘it doesn’t matter, let hip-hop people do their own and let me do my own, it doesn’t matter. When we were doing Apala in the days of Yore, was that the only music existing? No. everybody will have their variety, at the same time, we are all on parallel lines and the world is going that way. What matters most is that you are still able to make sense in what you do. My music is ageless. You choose what you desire to listen to or hear. My melodies are ageless.’’ When asked what has changed about her, she said she is still the same person. She further said she now dresses more which sometimes causes confusion when she dresses too much.

She also revealed that her brother sings Apala music and she never knew her dad was a singer until he died. According to her, ‘‘Theatre took my heart away from schooling. I went to school and stopped at secondary level. I just loved to enjoy life. I was always at the theatre. I was even ready to run away from the secondary school but my principal forced me and made sure I finished secondary education. There was so much joy in arts for me. But now I understand.’’

What many don’t know about Yinka is that she is now a born again or better still closer to God. Speaking on her new found faith which she preaches and strongly upholds, YinKa says: ‘‘I am a good Christian, no doubt. I am in love with Christ terribly and nothing can compete with him for that singular role in my life. I speak to him every day.