{"id":241711,"date":"2026-02-25T13:03:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T13:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/five-popular-nigerian-celebrities-who-ventured-into-music-but-failed-woefully\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T13:03:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T13:03:14","slug":"five-popular-nigerian-celebrities-who-ventured-into-music-but-failed-woefully","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/five-popular-nigerian-celebrities-who-ventured-into-music-but-failed-woefully\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Popular Nigerian Celebrities Who Ventured Into Music But Failed Woefully"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"mvp-content-main\">\n<p>The exit of Nollywood actor,<span style=\"box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\">\u00a0<strong>Ray Emodi<\/strong>, from movie production and acting has sparked mixed reactions among fans, especially given his outstanding performances and niche <\/span>in the industry.<\/p>\n<p>Emodi shared the news of quitting acting for music on Instagram,<strong> explaining that fans often ask about his absence from the screen.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The movie star reflected on his years in the film industry, recalling how some roles required working in unsafe environments, including locations where gunshots could be heard nearby.<\/p>\n<p>Ray Emodi is not the first actor to quit acting for music, as some popular Nollywood stars had at some point in their acting career ventured into music.<\/p>\n<p>In this article, <strong>Abia Radio News<\/strong> highlights five popular celebrities who attempted to cross over into the music industry but faced criticism and limited success.<\/p>\n<p>1. <strong>Tonto Dikeh<\/strong>: In 2013, the actress cum politician ventured into music with singles \u201cHI\u201d and \u201cItz Ova\u201d but was met with widespread criticism. She also collaborated with popular artistes such as Solid Star and Terry G, but the songs flopped. The music outcome forced Tonto Dikeh to return to acting and brand influencing.<\/p>\n<p>In 2025, Tonto Dikeh pointed to the influence of her \u201cworst friends\u201d as a key reason her music career failed. She lamented that her singing ability did not match the ambition her friends instilled in her, claiming that with the right talent, she would have surpassed the fame of stars like Tiwa Savage, Cece Winans, or Whitney Houston.<\/p>\n<p><picture decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-668833\"><source type=\"image\/webp\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.naijanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Tonto-Dikeh.jpg.webp\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 2160px) 100vw, 2160px\"\/>\n<\/picture><\/p>\n<p>2. <strong>Jim Iyke<\/strong>: Nollywood superstar, Jim Iyke enjoyed a short-lived success in music after releasing a single titled \u2018Who Am I\u2019 with 2Face Idibia, which received quite some airplay both on TV and radio. Apart from that, he also released an album \u2018Born to Do This\u2019 with several notable features, but unfortunately, it did not do as well as the earlier single with 2Face.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1034701 perfmatters-lazy\" alt=\"\" width=\"860\" height=\"523\" src=\"https:\/\/www.naijanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Jim-Iyke-e1757158959795-860x523-1.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.naijanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Jim-Iyke-e1757158959795-860x523-1.jpg 860w, https:\/\/www.naijanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Jim-Iyke-e1757158959795-860x523-1-300x182.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.naijanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Jim-Iyke-e1757158959795-860x523-1-768x467.jpg 768w\" data-sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 860px) 100vw, 860px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>3. <strong>Genevieve Nnaji<\/strong>: In 2005, Genevieve was suspended from acting, and she decided to give music a shot and released a song titled \u2018No More\u2019 and got a recording deal in Ghana shortly after, but the music did not gain momentum, and the outcome was not enough for her to make a mark in the Nigerian music scene.<\/p>\n<p><picture decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-502739\"><source type=\"image\/webp\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.naijanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/genevieve-nnaji.jpg.webp\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1400\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.naijanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/genevieve-nnaji.jpg.webp\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.naijanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/genevieve-nnaji.jpg.webp 2000w, https:\/\/www.naijanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/genevieve-nnaji-300x210.jpg.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.naijanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/genevieve-nnaji-1024x717.jpg.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.naijanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/genevieve-nnaji-768x538.jpg.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.naijanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/genevieve-nnaji-1536x1075.jpg.webp 1536w\" data-sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\"\/>\n<\/picture><\/p>\n<p>4. <strong>Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde<\/strong>: The A-list movie star popularly known as Omosexy was not an exception when it comes to music flops. She released two albums with singles \u2018Missing You,\u2019 \u2018Feel Alright\u2019 and \u2018Gba\u2019 but her music career failed to gain mainstream traction. After failing to make an impact on the airways, Omotola returned to acting on the big screen, where she continues to flourish.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1054103 perfmatters-lazy\" alt=\"Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1440\" src=\"https:\/\/www.naijanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Omotola-Jalade-Ekeinde.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.naijanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Omotola-Jalade-Ekeinde.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/www.naijanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Omotola-Jalade-Ekeinde-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.naijanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Omotola-Jalade-Ekeinde-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.naijanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Omotola-Jalade-Ekeinde-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.naijanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Omotola-Jalade-Ekeinde-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.naijanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Omotola-Jalade-Ekeinde-2048x1152.jpg 2048w\" data-sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>5. <strong>Patience Ozokwor<\/strong>: In the mid-2000s, veteran Nollywood actress, Patience Ozokwor, better known as Mama G, also delved into music, releasing hits like \u201cIhe Neme N\u2019uwa,\u201d \u201cIyo Ngwo Ngwo,\u201d and \u201cNational Moi Moi\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The thespian also released a video for her single, \u201cAdaeze\u2019 back in 2012. After that, the songs stopped making waves, and she has since gone back to acting.<\/p>\n<p><picture decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-566334\"><source type=\"image\/webp\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.naijanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Collage-Maker-14-Sep-2022-04.03-PM.jpg.webp\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Patience Ozokwor\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1000\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.naijanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Collage-Maker-14-Sep-2022-04.03-PM.jpg.webp\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.naijanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Collage-Maker-14-Sep-2022-04.03-PM.jpg.webp 2000w, https:\/\/www.naijanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Collage-Maker-14-Sep-2022-04.03-PM-300x150.jpg.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.naijanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Collage-Maker-14-Sep-2022-04.03-PM-1024x512.jpg.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.naijanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Collage-Maker-14-Sep-2022-04.03-PM-768x384.jpg.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.naijanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Collage-Maker-14-Sep-2022-04.03-PM-1536x768.jpg.webp 1536w, https:\/\/www.naijanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Collage-Maker-14-Sep-2022-04.03-PM-150x75.jpg.webp 150w\" data-sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\"\/>\n<\/picture><\/p>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 2 -->\n                                                                                                            <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The exit of Nollywood actor,\u00a0Ray Emodi, from movie production and acting has sparked mixed reactions among fans, especially given his outstanding performances and niche in the industry. Emodi shared the news of quitting acting for music on Instagram, explaining that fans often ask about his absence from the screen. The movie star reflected on his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":241712,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[980,344,1858,2298],"class_list":["post-241711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-jim-iyke","tag-nollywood","tag-omotola-jalade-ekeinde","tag-tonto-dikeh"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Five-Popular-Nigerian-Celebrities-Who-Ventured-Into-Music-But-Failed-Woefully-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}