Nigerian singer and actress Onyeka Onwenu, a cultural icon in Africa’s most populous nation, has died at the age of 72, according to media reports.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu described her as a “versatile and extremely gifted artiste who applied herself to the whole gamut of artistic enterprise and expression, bringing joy and laughter to many.”
Onwenu’s illustrious career spanned music, film, journalism, and politics.
Nicknamed “the elegant stallion,” Onwenu gained prominence in the early 1980s with her television documentary “Nigeria: A Squandering of Riches,” which she wrote and presented while working for Nigeria’s state television. The documentary explored citizens’ growing frustrations with the civilian government shortly before the 1983 coup and became a definitive documentation of Nigeria’s post-independence economy and politics.
In the same decade, she began recording albums as a singer. Her soulful voice became a radio staple, especially with singles like “One Love,” “You and I,” and her duet with Sunny Ade, a pioneer of the Juju genre.