OJB Jezreel

Babatunde Okungbowa, popularly known by his stage name OJB Jezreel or OJB, was a Nigerian singer-songwriter and record producer.[2] He died on June 14, 2016 of kidney disease.[3]

OJB Jezreel.
Born
Babatunde Augustine Okungbowa

(1966-07-04)July 4, 1966
Surulere, Lagos
DiedJune 14, 2016(2016-06-14) (aged 49)
Isolo, Lagos
Other namesJiggaman, DJ Young, Bishop
Children7 including Ayokunle Okungbowa (Ayo Jezreel)[1]
Musical career
GenresAfropop
Occupation(s)Musician, singer-songwriter, record producer
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • piano
  • drums
Years active1986-2016

Early life

Babatunde Okungbowa a.k.a. OJB Jezreel was born on July 4, 1966 in Lagos to Chief Anthony Okungbowa & Isabella Abiodun Okungbowa (Nee Pinheiro) in a matrimony that produced 5 others. He was the last child of his mum.

He attended Yewande Memorial Primary School & Mainland Preparatory Elementary School between 1972 - 1977.

He graduated from Federal Government College, Ijanikin in 1986 where he organized a music concert while he was a student of the school.

He furthered his education at Lagos College of Education and Liter-way College, Holland, Year 1987-1990. However, in true pursuit of his passion and a real career, he decided to follow his path in life as an artiste/music producer.

For the prolific producer, music started back in 1986. The artiste started making beats in back room studios, first in his Surulere neighbourhood and later in other parts of the city.

His first son Ayokunle Okungbowa is the rising Gospel artist also known as Ayo Jezreel [4]

Career

OJB Jezreel was a seasoned producer and a great musician. Over the years, he has produced some of the greatest hit albums and singles in the history of R&B hip-hop music in the entertainment scene in Africa.

He worked with 2face Idibia which is the greatest thing that came out of Africa to the world. OJB Jezreel single handedly produced 'Face 2 Face', the album that contained tracks like African Queen that took 2face to another level.

He has worked with Beenie Man, a Jamaican American-based musician.

He produced artistes like RuggedMan re-establishing rap music to gain its ground in Nigeria. He also produced Jazzman Olofin, Weird MC, Paul Ik Dairo, Daddy Showkey, Sir Shina Peters, Olu Maintain.

OJB also produced albums and songs for Faze, Iyanya, D'banj, Durella, Wizkid, Yemi Alade etc. to mention a few.[5][6]

He made so much impact in the music industry thereby making Nigeria the cradle of entertainment in Africa also emerging a spotlight in Africa, he remains the greatest producer ever to emerge from the continent Africa.

As a musician he is one of the greatest vocalists and by virtue of years of experience as a producer he has been able to impact his gathered knowledge into his style of music thereby making him Mr. versatile in his last album ‘No Drama’ with great hit songs like ‘Searching’ and ‘Pretete’ which created so much impact that it sold close to one million copies in less than 4 weeks without the push and promotion of a record label. If you call OJB Mr. versatile, he is.[7]

Discography

Production
Albums

Singles
  1. Pretete
  2. Searching
  3. Beautiful As You Are
  4. Soldier
  5. Pon Pon
  6. Shitta Anthem
  7. Gbemileke
  8. Keys To My Heart
  9. Oleku
  10. Follow Me ft Goody Goody
  11. I Believe
  12. I Don Tire
  13. Missing You
  14. No More
  15. Malaika
  16. Dallu
  17. Wan Yoh Ma
  18. Get There
  19. What It Gonna Be

Personal life

OJB was married to three wives, Mabel, June & Korede with eight children between them.[8]

The respected music producer and singer battled with Kidney problems since 2013. He was consequently flown to India for a transplant in 2013. With his kidney experience, he decided to set up a Foundation, ‘OJB Foundation’ to help people with kidney problems in appreciation to God for saving his life.[9]

However, his kidney transplant failed again a week before his demise and OJB passed on.[10] He is survived by his wife Mabel and her 3 children, June and her 3 Children Denzel, Emmanuel & Zion, and Korede and her 2 children Damilare & Ifebiyi.[11]

OJB was buried on the 8th of July, 2016.[12]

Awards
  • Best Producer At Faith Award 2000
  • Best Duo Group At Faith Award 2000
  • Best Song At Faith Award 2000
  • Best Pop At Faith Award 2000
  • My Mic My Sway ( Recognition award for his Inspiration & Contribution to African Youth)
  • NEA Honours (Nigerian Entertainment Awards) In recognition of his outstanding contributions to the Nigeria Entertainment Industry.
  • Outstanding Achievers Award From Y’S Dom Of Black Kulture Inc.
  • Best Music Producer, Nigeria Music Award Owerri
  • Dynamic Global Concepts Award

Filmography

Anjola 2015

gollark: Literal poisonous potatoes? If you're sure.
gollark: The best currency to use is of course the poisonous potato.
gollark: Neural interfaces are better.
gollark: Also, some offense, but your central bank is likely to have vast security holes.
gollark: They don't represent currency if the logs cannot actually be swapped for anything unless they have salt value somehow.

References
  1. https://amebo9jafeed.blogspot.com.ng/2016/06/photo-late-ojb-jezreel-and-his.html
  2. Temiloluwa Temiloluwa (2016-06-14). "OJB Jezreel dies at 49 | Punch Newspapers". Punchng.com. Retrieved 2016-06-19.
  3. "Music producer OJB is dead, 3 years after kidney transplant - Vanguard News". Vanguardngr.com. 2016-06-14. Retrieved 2016-06-19.
  4. "Photo: Late OJB Jezreel And His Biological Son,Gospel Singer Ayokunle".
  5. "5 Artists Who Started Their Careers With OJB Jezreel | Nigerian Entertainment Today - Nigeria's Number 1 Entertainment Daily". Thenet.ng. 2013-06-30. Archived from the original on 2016-06-17. Retrieved 2016-06-19.
  6. Adebayo Emuleomo. "11 famous Nigerian artistes OJB Jezreel produced hit songs for". YNaija.com. Retrieved 2016-06-19.
  7. Harbimz (2016-06-21). "OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE: The Truth About The Life Of OJB Jezreel 'Jiggaman'". Olodo Nation. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  8. Naij.com. "OJB Jezreel's 3 Wives And 8 Children (Photos) ▷ NAIJ.COM". naij.com. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  9. "OJB Jezreel sets up kidney foundation - The Nation Nigeria". thenationonlineng.net. 15 March 2014. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  10. "Music producer, OJB Jezreel dies of kidney failure". guardian.ng. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  11. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-07-19. Retrieved 2016-07-09.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. Odumade, Omotolani. "OJB: Dele Momodu, others attend singer's burial - Celebrities - Pulse". pulse.ng. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
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