FAST-rising singer, Lisa Viola, has revealed her relationship with actor and comedian, Bright Okpocha aka Basketmouth.
According to the Angolan-born and Australian-raised singer, she met Basketmouth in Australia many years back but was unaware of his popularity until much later.
Speaking of her first encounter with the famous comedian, Viola said, “I met Basket in Australia at his show many years ago. To be honest I didn’t know who he was as I didn’t really follow comedy like that. I remember being introduced to him and telling him about my music.
“He posted my music video on his FB page. I always remembered that. When I found out I was coming to Nigeria, I messaged him on social media. I really had no idea how much of an icon he was until I got here. He’s a beloved Nigerian superstar!
“Basketmouth has been my mentor. Since I got to Nigeria. He has given me such an insight into the industry, the culture, and also the business. When I grow up, I want to be BasketMouth! but a lady version, of course.
“Now, he is the executive producer of my soon-to-be-released EP, Mixed Feelings, which was produced by Duktor Set. The EP will be out on August 19 but I already have a song, Lagos featuring Majeed, my label mate rocking the airwaves,” the singer said.
The first daughter of three kids, the singer moved to Australia with her mother at 5, due to the Civil War in Angola where she lost her father.
Sadly, she lost her mother last December.
Reminiscing about her parents, she said, “I lost my mother in Dec just before Christmas. She was a feisty Angolan woman who raised us to be fiercely proud of our African heritage. She wanted me to get married and have a family more than anything. My stepfather is Swiss and so our house was basically the United Nations especially during birthday celebrations as our parents had friends from Mali, Kenya, Serbia, the UK, and Portugal you name it.
“My real father was Portuguese. My brothers, sister and father were victims of a rebel attack in Angola in 2000. This was the main reason my mother always wanted to leave Angola. Angola was in civil war until 2001.”
Speaking further on her forthcoming project, Mixed Feelings, the Dream Empire Music signee who was brought into the country by the record label said, “At the time we made Mixed Feelings the EP I was missing home terribly, I’d been through some dating turmoil (Lagos men o!) and I was extremely introspective after spending 8months in Nigeria away from everything I knew.
“Unfortunately, my mother fell ill in the middle of our writing camp for the EP and it took everything I had to stay focused. She was in a coma for 10 days and the doctors were saying it wasn’t looking good so it was the hardest time of my life. I was working all day then on the phone with family and praying all night. It was tough.
“The hardest part was that I couldn’t get back into Australia because of the international border closures due to covid. As we lost her there was also a child born to one of our team at the same time so it was this sad but beautiful circle of life that happened right before us. As you can imagine there were a lot of mixed feelings at that time.”
The songstress also revealed that she would be featured in a soon-to-be-out movie, ‘Cold’ which features the likes of RMD, IK Ogbonna.
Speaking of the experience, she said, “I had so much fun during my first Nollywood experience. I couldn’t believe how sweet and welcoming everyone was. The on-camera style here is definitely more dynamic so I was learning on the job.
Mr Ik Ogbonna was graciously running my lines and making sure I was good and ready. I got to chat with Ms Hilda and Ms Iretiola who gave me some industry insight as well as our director Mr Bakia Thomas.
Mr Richard (RMD) watched my music video and was showing people on set. It honestly couldn’t have been a lovelier and more supportive cast.”