Tony okoroji biography

  • Tony Okoroji is a Nigerian musician,
  • Tony Okoroji is a

    • I Became PMAN President When I Was In My 20&#;s TONY OKOROJI Reveals His Best Kept Secrets

    K
    • Tells City People The Story Of His Life

    Whenever his name crops up, many just think Chief Tony Okoroji, the Chairman of COSON is all about fighting for the royalties of music artistes alone. We can tell you authoritatively that he is deeper than that. He is one of the early pioneers of music that rocked the 80s, 90s. In this special interview with City People, SEYE KEHINDE and Music Reporter, DANIJI EMMANUEL, he reveals the story of his life.

    Many know Chief Tony Okoroji. You are a big brand in the music industry. But many don’t know how you started off in music years back.

    I was born in Imo state. I had my primary school in Port Harcourt, my Secondary school was in Enugu. I consider myself an Enugu boy, I went to the University when I was fairly old. I have done all kinds of things. I played music when I was I actually have a record in Nigeria. I am probably the 1st to play all the musical instruments in a pop music album.

    I was about 18, At that time, there were no computers, and all that, and I was just doing tracking and all that. I did an album titled Big, Big, Sugar Daddy and played all the musical instruments.

    But I also had challenges growing up even when I wanted to start music, I would go to the record companies and one of the questions I was repeatedly asked was: have you made music before? Have you recorded music before?

    And I was always laughing; wondering when I was going to record my 1st music.

    That was why I set up TOPs on Toyin Street  in Ikeja. Tops is an organization I set up to help artistes who are talented but have no where else to go to. One of my artistes is a girl who lost her father at the age of 10 and almost didn’t have any one to help her. A lot of these people are practically adopted. So, what I do is to help them in my own little way to give them a chance to move forward. Its my duty. That’s part of my experience growing

    ABOUT COSON

    HOW IT ALL STARTED

    The decision to set up COSON is a result of a broad based agreement between the owners of musical works, the users of the works and the statutory regulators on the need of the industry to close ranks and have one formidable national collective management organization to promote and protect the copyright of practitioners in the Nigerian music industry. COSON will also ensure that the rights of persons from other lands who have interest in music used in Nigeria are protected.

    It was in the year that it was agreed between the existing collective management structures that those structures must be collapsed into COSON to bring to an end the schism and undue rivalry in the collective management of rights in the music industry. It was not until the formation of the Nigerian Music Industry Coalition in , that it was decided that the time had come to take the bull by the horn. All known stakeholder groups in Nigeria were invited to the table to develop the architecture for collective management in Nigeria. At the end of several weeks of consultations and consensus building, it was resolved that:-

     

    - Urgent steps should be taken to bring about the formation of Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) which had long been agreed to by major stakeholder organizations in the industry.

     

    - The emerging organization must be professional, transparent, accountable and fully democratic.

     

    - The new organization must be fully operational as soon as it is set up in order not to create a vacuum in copyright licensing.

     

    - In order to fast track the processes, existing structures of collective management and expertise already available in the industry should be utilized.

    Following the above resolutions, all stakeholder groups were invited to contribute to the take off of COSON. COSON is a non-profit making organization governed by an Interim Management Board representing the different stakeholder groups. The Interim Manag

    Tony Okoroji

    Chief

    Tony Okoroji

    Born () December 22, (age&#;67)
    NationalityNigerian
    Occupation(s)Author, Musician and Activist
    Known&#;forIntellectual property activist
    TitleChairman COSON

    Tony Okoroji is a Nigerian musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, author and intellectual property activist. He was elected President of Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN) in and later became the Chairman of Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON). In , Okoroji established his own record label, TOPs Record.

    Music industry leadership

    Okoroji became president of Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN) in He is credited for expanding the organisation across Nigeria.

    He was also one of the individuals that called for the establishment of Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) during military dictatorship. Okoroji emerged chairman of Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) following its formation in May

    In , he&#;introduced Nigeria’s first online licensing platform, COSON Licensing Application Platform (CLAP) and declared an all-out war against copyright infringements. This reform led to the collection of million naira royalty for artists within a year.

    Books

    In , Okoroji released a book Copyright, Neighborhood Rights and the new Millionaires (the twists and turns in Nigeria) which analysed copyright infringement issues and ways to tackle the challenges.

    In , Okoroji published another book On The Road To Change which is a compendium of articles written by him and published in Saturday Independent (Nigerian Newspaper) and other media platforms.

    Music career

    Okoroji became popular in the early 70s with hits such as James and John, I say No, and Oriaku from his Julian

    I still respect my ex-husband &#; Alex Okoroji

    Background

    I grew up surrounded by famous musicians, attending award ceremonies and other events with my parents. I also participated in a lot of multicultural activities in school. Some of the most memorable moments of my childhood include when I was the lead singer of an underground girl band named, The Alternate, and when I won the Most Beautiful Girl Award in my secondary school.

    Education

    I had my elementary education at St Leo’s Catholic Primary School, Ikeja. For my post-elementary education, I attended one of the Federal Unity Colleges, but I graduated from Tender Touch College, FESTAC.

    Tony Okoroji

    Growing up watching my father, Tony Okoroji, excel at whatever he does rubbed off on me. However, I did not decide to become an entertainer because my father was a musician; but because I have it in me the same way that he has it in him. I was born an artiste. For people to say my father’s influence helped me to get roles is the most ridiculous thing I have heard. My father has neither telephoned nor given me a note to anyone for the purpose of getting me a movie role.

    AMBO

    Participating in the maiden edition of Amstel Malta Box Office in was one of the big moves that I made at the start of my career. I met amazing people on the show, some of who remain part of my success story. I had a great performance coach in Richard Mofe-Damijo, and a fantastic presentation coach in Bimbo Oloyede. It was at the show that RMD rechristened me Alex, as opposed to Alexandra.

    Television

    The first TV series I featured in was Heaven’s Gate produced by Zik Zulu Okafor in I consider Tinsel and Spider to be my breakthrough movies in the industry.

    Movies

    My first movie was titled Calabar Girl. I can’t recall the number of movies that I’ve featured in because I stopped counting. I care more about the production, story, roles, and the quality of the movies, rather than the quantity. I have not pro