Veteran musician Sir Shina Peters has opened up about the difficult circumstances that led him to leave his parents at 10.
Speaking in a recent interview on The Honest Bunch podcast, the legendary Afro-Juju singer revealed that financial hardship pushed him to seek independence at a young age.
He said: “What led me to leave my parents at 10 is because they don’t have money to rent a room and a parlour. So the only room-anytime we are having holidays, I always go to Oshodi. They will spread by mat, me I will sleep on the mat. My father, my mother, they will sleep on the bed waiting for me to sleep before they can perform husband and wife right, and I will not be able to sleep.”
The singer said the experience was painful and eventually inspired his decision to fend for himself.
“I don’t discuss this. It’s painful. Painful. Seeing my father and my mother dragging. Then I said to myself, ‘Shina, no. Go outside there and find life for yourself.’ Because I’m a special spiritual boy. I fast 60, 90 days. Then I left. I just woke them up- ‘papa, mama, me I dey go.’ They said, ‘Go where? Tomorrow morning you’re supposed to go to St. Peter’s School, Abeokuta.’ I said, ‘Forget about education now, let me find my level, let me find myself. If I continue this way, how can I contribute to the success of my unborn yet? I’m not going to be the only one, so let me go and look how I will make you proud.’ Then I did it at age 10.”
He recalled the moment he left home, promising his parents he would not return as a failure.
“The owner of the house went inside around 2am and brought a schnapps, meaning this type of bad incident may not enter this house again. After a few meters, I looked back at the house and told them that I will not come back to this house if I fail, but I promise you, I will not fail. And I will not meet this house like this.”
Reflecting on how far he has come, Peters recounted returning to his family home years later after achieving success in music.
“In 1972, my second London with Prince Adekunle, they all came to the airport to call me. I asked the big industry to follow me to my parents’ house. Guess what? I left the house with 10 rooms, ‘face me I face you’ rooms-I met 2 because of that Oshodi canal; they broke the house. Each time all these things reflect, I work extra miles.
“Sometimes I call God-me and my God sometimes we fight, and I will prostrate again to apologise because I believe in Him so much. So music is not ‘sere-sere things’ that they’re doing now. If you want to be an icon in the industry, a legend, you have to go extra miles. You are a role model, what you will sing when you are young is totally different from what you are singing when you are an adult.”
