She was one of the few female singers that soperated in a male dominated music industry in the 70s.
In fact, Balogun Fayemi aka Lady Balogun, survived where angels dared to thread, becoming one of the pacesetters in juju music.
Recalling her humble beginning, Lady Balogun narrated how musicians used to carry equipment on their heads to the venues where they performed.
We used to carry our musical equipment on our heads to venues where we performed. We did that not because of money, but for the interest we had in music, she said.
But then, Lady Balogun was lucky to have had one of the legends of juju music, the late I.K Dairo, as her mentor. It was him who took her under his wings and opened her eyes to the business of music, especially copyright.
Baba (I.K Dairo) took me as his daughter and gave me good advice on how to comport myself as a female musician, especially about the pitfalls associated with juju music,” she disclosed.
It was in the course of her relationship with I.K Dairo that Lady Balogun got schooled about copyright issues for the first time.
“There was this day when I heard that King Sunny Ade had received huge amount of money from PRS of London as royalty from his music. So, I went to Baba I.K Dairo to tell him what I heard and inquired about how I can also earn money from my albums.
“He said I should take it easy and that there are plans to have a (collecting) society in Nigeria that will take care of us, because to be a member of PRS then, one needed to have released at least three albums.”
Having been schooled in copyright matters, Lady Balogun later became a pioneer member of the Musical Copyright Society Nigeria Ltd/Gte (MCSN).
“Since joining MCSN in the 80s, I have not regretted one day. The society has been nice to me, paying me royalties regularly. That is why I always advise the young ones to join MCSN,” the musician noted.
Lady Balogun, however, called on all Nigerian musicians to join MCSN in order to secure their future.
Musicians dont have pension, royalties from their works serve as pension. Therefore, all musicians both young and old should join MCSN to secure their pension for old age.”
