By FLORENCE AMAGIYA

Popular Nigerian singer/songwriter, Charly Boy, whose real name is Charles Chukwuemeka Oputa, needs no introduction to Nigerians. The Imo state-born superstar whose father, late Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, the Supreme Court judge for many years, as well as the chairman of the Oputa Panel.

Arguably, Charly Boy has carved a niche for himself as the most controversial entertainer in Nigeria today. He was nicknamed “the area fada” by his beneficiaries” because of his biker style. In this edition, we present to you a man whose style of dressing is indeed out of this world and who is known to have helped and pleaded for any youth in trouble that owns a bike.
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The area fada”, was born on June 19th 1951 into a privileged Catholic family where he lacked nothing. Even though he had everything he wanted in life, he decided to carve a niche for himself by creating his own brand, the Charly Boy’s brand.

The brand became the exact opposite of his father’s law and order lifestyle. It is no wonder he was at loggerhead with his father until in recent years when his dad came to understand him. Young Oputa got admission to study law at the prestigious University in the United state called Harvard, but instead he studied communications.

As it is in life, “a man cannot eat his cake and have it” so the journey for young Oputa’s fame and popularity was not so rosy.

He had to forego the mouth watering job his father secured for him at Mobil oil and gas company when he returned to Nigeria after graduation. He left everything belonging to his father and moved to the village because he couldn’t pay for accommodation in the city.

To survive, young Charly Boy had to do the oddest jobs around. He worked at a beer and pepper soup joint where he romanced poverty.

For seven years he experienced what can be described as self inflicted poverty in quest for his dreams because he was too independent minded to live in someone else’s shadow, not even his father’s.

Along the line, he moved back to Lagos state and with some help achieved his dreams in the entertainment industry. He released his first highlife album in 1982 and attained greater success with his 1995 release of Nwata Miss.

His most popular album was released in 1990 which attacked the corrupt Nigerian government. Later in 1996, he acted in a movie titled Backstab, then he got into TV program production and presentation, and the rest, as they say, is history.

The brand called “Charly Boy”

From time he knew that if he must succeed and be his own person then he must be different from his father. His father already had an imposing brand in the legal world. He therefore decided to create his own brand in the showbiz world.

According to him, “the Charly Boy brand was a strategy created to shock the timid myopic and analogue Nigerians out of their narrow mindedness and conservative mind set.” “Everything about the Brand was all contrived even from the early stages of building it. He and his wife looked for the crazy, the weird, the bizarre, something to jolt the people.

“We set-out to create a youthful energetic brand that will stay forever young, a brand that can’t be ignored. “For us, the entertainment platform was the best to exhibit all our creative madness. It’s been 37years since we started and we have no regret.

Each time I look back at where I am coming from, I am happy with what I have been able to acheive. The price l paid was big, but it is worth it. I think one of the qualities that have earned the brand a lot of respect and admiration even from hardcore critics would be his tenacity, consistency, tremendous focus and the ability to keep evolving no matter what. Instead of remaining his daddy’s boy, he became his own man.

Milestone

After the experience, he rose to become a singer/songwriter, television presenter, publisher, producer and one of Nigeria’s most controversial entertainers, best known for his alternative lifestyle, biker style, his political views, and television productions, most notably The Charly Boy Show. Charley Boy has been president of the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria and in 2011 he became one of the West African Idol’s judges.

Charley Boy has been married to an African-American named Diane for over thirty years. He has nine children; one of his sons is an associate professor at the Institute of Technology (MIT) Boston.

He was able to win back his father’s trust and respect for the remaining part of his father’s 27 years before his dad left the scene. According to him, his greatest achievement is to get the famous jurist not only to love Charly Boy, but also to become his fan, and truly his dad became a disciple and an advocate of Charley Boyisim.

When his father publicly owned up to how proud he was of him, he knew there was no looking back. “We became good friends, with tremendous mutual respect for each other.”

He is also proud of the fact that for 11 years, when he lived with his parents in his Abuja house, he was able to take care of them as only a son or daughter could. His dad died in his house.

His foundation

Charly Boy knows the mentality of the down trodden, he sympathizes with their predicaments because he has been there before.

That’s why he does it, whenever he can help lift people up. It makes him feel useful and he is always grateful that he could be of help. Most importantly, through his mentoring he has also discovered that thorns have roses.

Most prized possession

Although Charly Boy has made a lot of money, has a lot of expensive bikes, cars and properties, he sees his brand ‘Charly Boy” as his most prized possession because he didn’t get it cheap. He is an introvert by nature, but on the platform of his brand, he is who he is today. So it is all thanks to the grace behind the brand.