By the time both arrived at Phillip Trimnell studio in Surulere in the year 1992 for this photo shoot aimed at capturing this cover photo for the release of the single titled ‘Omolakeji; they instinctively knew success was awaiting them in the Nigerian music industry before Phillip was done shooting that day.

This was one of the successful regional collaborations between two artistic geniuses. Just like the success recorded with Onyeka Onwenu and Sunny Ade in the song ‘One Love’ and more recently with Phyno and Olamide in ‘Ghost Mode,’ the song ‘Omolakeji’ released in 1992 by Daniel Wilson featuring Lemi Ghariokwu was nothing short of exceptional.

The story behind this collaboration is an interesting one. Daniel Wilson was then more of a Port Harcourt based artiste. When he decided to spread his creative tentacles to make inroads into the Lagos market, he was given a list of names of some puppet masters in the music industry that he needed to align with. Among those names include the likes of Tony Okoroji, Lemmy Jackson, Laolu Akins, keji Okunowo and Lemi Ghariokwu.

Lemi Ghariokwu was not just respected all over the country for his art designs for Fela’s various album covers; a few close to him knew he also doubled as a song writer and performer.  When Daniel Wilson finally had a meeting with him, the idea of having a music collaboration that would attract eastern, southern and western music faithful was suggested to Lemi. Daniel ran through the various songs Lemi had written and they both choose ‘Omolakeji’ to record. Recorded at Soga Benson Studios (AGOS) in Apapa, Lagos, with production credits from Chris Okoro, Joe Ojas and Nelson Brown, the song made it to the 1992 Daniel Wilson’s ‘Original Bad Boy’ album as a certified hit.

– Sesan Adeniji