The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Rolling Dollar

  • O’jez holds tribute night for Rolling Dollar

    O’jez holds tribute night for Rolling Dollar

    TOMORROW at the popular Ojez, musicians and friends of the late Highlife maestro, Fatai Rolling Dollar will exalt the unique virtues of the artiste. The event is a night of tribute, put together by the celebrity restaurant, known for its monthly O’jez Entertainment Awards. Dollar passed on last month at the age of 86.

    O’jez had cancelled last month’s edition of its Awards which was billed to hold on Sunday, June 30 to allow time to plan a more befitting honour for a man touted to belong to the O’jez entertainment family for over a decade.

    Scheduled to begin at 7pm, the night of tribute is said to also coincide with the 41 days mourning of the fallen musician who was a Muslim. Chief Executive of Ojez, Chief Joseph Odobeatu said everything has been put in place to ensure Sunday’s event turns out to be a success. “We are working in collaboration with the late Fatai Rolling Dollar’s family and they are happy to be part of the celebration of the life of their great musician father come this Sunday.”

    The Evergreen Band as well as the O’jez Band that have backed the musician in most of his gigs at the O’jez dancing restaurant every Friday and last Sundays of the month will be on the stand to dish out his popular tunes from when he began playing music over five decades ago. Also on the bill are comedians Elenu, MC Shakara and Elder O. “Zee Boy and Zee Girl, one of the most talented dancing duo will also perform this Sunday plus lots of others. I can assure you that we will give Baba (Rolling Dollar) a befitting honour. We waited this long to allow others do theirs while we planned for his 41 days mourning, after Sunday’s event, I am sure Baba will be proud wherever he is, that indeed we valued his contribution to the O’jez brand in the last 12 years.”

    Mr. Adewunmi Olagunju, son of the late musician was full of thanks to O’jez Entertainment Limited for the honour done Fatai Rolling Dollar. “I am quite aware of the relationship my father had with O’jez, sometimes when his driver was not around, I always drove him here to perform on Friday nights and last Sunday of the month. I was one of his biggest fans because I hardly missed his shows. On behalf of Fatai Rolling Dollar’s family, I say a big thank you to O’jez group for this honour. He always spoke about O’jez almost every time we were together and he was truly grateful for the contribution of O’jez to his music career.”

  • Rolling Dollar: O’jez suspends monthly award

    Rolling Dollar: O’jez suspends monthly award

    POPULAR hangout for Nigerian celebrities, O’jez Restaurant, has put off its monthly award gig, as sign of respect for veteran Highlife musician, Fatai Rolling Dollar, who died last Wednesday.

    Fondly called ‘Agidigbo Master’, Dollar, who was a platinum member of Ojez and an in-house artiste, died of lung cancer at 85. The next edition of the O’jez award was billed for Sunday June, 30 but Chief Executive Officer of the outfit, Chief Joseph Odobeatu said the award had to be cancelled as a mark of honour for the fallen legend.

    “We cannot be celebrating while a key member of the O’jez Entertainment Awards had just passed on. Baba Fatai Rolling Dollar was not just an artiste who had performed for over a decade on the O’jez stage, he was family to the O’jez group,” Odobeatu said.

    He expressed grief over the demise of the artiste, whom he said he had been acquainted with for over 12 years. “Fatai Rolling Dollar had been with us from inception of O’jez at Iwaya Road outlet down to National Stadium. He has been performing every Friday and every last Sunday of the month for over a decade now…it’s a big loss for us at O’jez and a bigger loss to the Nigerian entertainment industry and the entire country in general. He was a personal friend, a father and close confidant. This is a man even with his fame and age, remained very humble till his demise. I feel pained but also seek solace in the fact that he came, made his mark and left in a blaze of glory. The industry will surely miss him”.

    Ododeatu promised that his outfit would play an active role in the 40th day burial rites, and assist family of the deceased with its widow’s mite. “When all this is done, we will organize a special tribute night where only FRD’s music will be performed by younger Highlife musicians. Our entertainment consultant, Moses Ebong has started working on that initiative.”

  • So long, Rolling Dollar

    So long, Rolling Dollar

    After vicissitudes of life that ended on a happy note, Fatai Olagunju passes on

    As he lay dying in a Lagos hospital, with flashes of his chequered life and musical career coming and going before his eyes, Fatai Olagunju, known as Fatai Rolling Dollar probably sensed that the show was over for him. Three days before his death on June 12, his daughter, Mrs Adejumoke Badmus, reportedly said, “He kept saying it was time for him to go but he wouldn’t say where he was going to.”

    Succumbing to lung cancer, his final departure at age 86 marked the close of a life that was as eventful as it was full of lessons. He survived a touching wilderness period that lasted almost three decades to reclaim his creative talent and reach a height that surpassed even the relative success and fame of his early years as a musician. “I stopped for 28 years,” he said in an interview, recounting a turbulent interval that saw him working as a security guard and church guitarist, among other forced jobs that he took up in desperation.

    By a fascinating fate, the electrifying stardom of his latter years rested principally on a song he had released before he fell on bad times. He was in his mid-seventies when, in 2003, with the support of appreciative promoters, his Highlife hit song seized the airwaves and thrilled music lovers far and wide.   Won Kere Si Number Wa, a bouncy melody with a ring of taunting hubris, relaunched his comatose career and thrust him in the spotlight after years in limbo.  Indeed, his terminal illness first manifested during his well publicised tour of some prominent cities in the United States, namely, New York, Maryland, New Jersey and Texas. He could do no more after performances in the first two cities, and had to return to Nigeria.

    Possibly the most instructive statement projected by his story is the truth that success can come to a person at any stage of life. Of course, the converse is equally true as evident from his past failures. His miraculous musical renaissance was sweetened by another significant miracle when the then governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, came to his rescue as he faced eviction from his rented residence. Tinubu surprised him with the gift of a flat at Oko-Oba, Agege, Lagos; it was the icing on the cake for the guitar-playing lyrical maestro.  For a performing artist who was active for about 15 years from his beginning in 1953, inspiring and mentoring a number of talents that grew into big names in the country’s musical circle before his troubles, it was rather puzzling that he had to wait for so long for turning-point assistance, which in the end even came from outside the sphere. “Asiwaju Tinubu changed the end of my life for better,” he told an interviewer.

    What about his well known bohemianism and freewheeling life style? No doubt, there are also important lessons to be drawn from those aspects of his personality.  Sadly, outside his musical acclaim, many did not consider him a positive role model when it came to drinking, smoking and womanising. It is food for thought that he continued to father children well into his advanced years. However, his publicised vices, even though disappointing, can be seen in the context of the moral challenges that come with earthly life.

    In an enlightening reflection on the course of his life, he didactically attributed his eventual accomplishment to three things: patience, perseverance and prayer. It is noteworthy that this formula, indeed,   worked wonders for him. There was an undeniable inspirational quality to his life that was not only valuable within the scope of music but was also relevant in every sphere of existence. After a colossal collapse, he providentially got a second chance that made the past inconsequential. The sheer magnetism of his tale will remain irresistible and give hope in the midst of despair.

  • Mark mourns Odiase, Rolling Dollar

    Mark mourns Odiase, Rolling Dollar

    President of the Senate, David Mark, on Thursday condoled with the families of the composer of the Nigerian National Anthem, Pa Benedict Odiase, and highlife maestro, Pa Fatai Olayiwola Olagunju Fatai aka “Rolling Dollar” over their deaths.

    Odiase died at 79, while Fatai passed away at 85.

    In separate messages to the government and people of Edo, Lagos and Osun States, Mark described the duo as “patriots and committed nationalists” who left their positive footprints on the sand of time.

    Specifically, the Senate President in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Paul Mumeh, in Abuja, noted that Odiase was a genius who deployed his talent freely for the advancement of the Nigerian people.

    He said: “Odiase was not just a distinguished police officer. He was a philosopher and a proud son of Nigeria.

    “All Nigerians owe him a great deal of gratitude. We shall always remember him for good.

    “He was our hero and his labour will never be in vain.”

    On Rolling Dollar, Mark said the deceased was a jolly good fellow who did not only entertained but brought joy to Nigerian homes and families.

    He paid glowing tributes to the musician for his mastery, dexterity and sense of humour while plying his trade.

    He pointed out that even in his last days, Rolling Dollar never relented in his passion for music.