Cobhams Asuquo

Blind from birth and born to humble beginnings, Cobhams grew up in military cantonments in Jos and Lagos, Nigeria by virtue of his Father’s profession as a soldier in the Nigerian Army. He showed early signs of being a musical prodigy when at age 6, he would puff out his cheeks and play the 12 bar blues. Without the benefit of music lessons due to his family’s meager means, he made music on any and every object he could find within his family’s home; from water containers around the house, to table tops, dining utensils and even his own body; paying close attention to the nuances of pitch, tone and timbre at such a young age. By ages 7 to 8 years old, he was regularly entertaining his neighbours in front of his home with informal performances of songs and music he had composed by himself using whatever crude objects he could find. At the age of 10 he was arranging music for his school’s band and had taught himself to play the organ and the keyboard. In his teens, Cobhams would frequently visit music studios looking for a chance to work, often in exchange for little more than the joy of making music. It was not uncommon for him to spend whole nights in music studios, dreaming of someday owning one of his own.

In addition to his musical prowess, Cobhams is a gifted speaker and writer. While in primary and secondary schools he joined debate clubs and participated in writing competitions many of which he won and received local and state wide recognition for. He hoped to become a lawyer and build a career that would eventually take him to the International Court of Justice at The Hague. After graduating Secondary School he gained admission into the University of Lagos, Nigeria to study Law. However as a result of an administrative error made during his admission process which went on to frustrate his entire undergrad experience, Cobhams eventually chose to drop out of University in his third year and take a chance on music as a full time profession. He was already the producer behind successful radio hits like Catch Cold (2002) and Maintain in India (2003) by the duo Maintain, Faze Alone (2004) by Faze, Ego (2004) by Djinee, and several other songs; and in 2005, within a year of dropping out of school, Cobhams was signed to Sony ATV UK as a Songwriter.

As a young music producer, Cobhams would often lend his voice for background vocals in the songs he produced for other artists. It wasn’t until 2007 he became publicly known as a singer and performing artist when he featured on what became the wildly popular Nigerian campus favourite, Mo Like Jesu Gan by Dekunle Fuji. Later on he featured in the song’s music video, officially introducing himself to a very adoring Nigerian public and finally gaining some recognition. In 2008 he produced and dropped a verse on Lagimo which became another fan favourite, for the gospel duo Rooftop MCs.

In 2014 he released his debut hit single, Ordinary People. It was very well received in Nigeria and quickly gained status as a timeless classic. In 2015 he released Do the Right Thing, a collaborative performance between himself and alternative soul singer Bez, and later that year, the Christmas single Star of Wonder. In 2016 he wrote and produced Empty, the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack for the Nollywood movie Banana Island Ghost, and Boosit, a musical commentary on the Nigerian political landscape in which he featured Nigerian rapper Falz the Bahd Guy. Also in 2016, he dropped the single The Other Room, another musical, satiric commentary inspired by the infamous “other room” comment of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari at a press conference in Germany. Cobhams closed the year 2016 with a Christmas single, Adore, and released his debut and gospel album For You, in March 2017. After the album’s official release concert, he spent the ensuing months touring Nigeria, the UK and the US with his band and doing live performances of songs from the album. In 2018 Cobhams started the year by releasing the single One Hit on his birthday, January 6. The song became a fast hit, and was followed later that year by another satiric single Everyday, again inspired by the Nigerian political scene and featuring Bez and Sound Sultan'. His single Starlight was released in September 2018 and received acclaim for the song’s mainstream Nigerian sound. In 2019 he released More than Pretty a song which was born out of conversations surrounding gender inequality, women’s rights and gender based violence; and was followed a few months later by We Plenti in which Cobhams featured Simi.

In spite of his visual impairment, Cobhams has successfully written scores for TV, film and stage plays. He composed the core for the virtual reality film, Daughters of Chibok shot by Nigerian Filmmaker Joel Kachi Benson. The film won the 2019 Venice Biennale Award for the Best Virtual Reality Story (For Linear Content). He also composed the score for the film The Royal Hibiscus Hotel, an EbonyLife Film which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2017. A Voice for Ella by Uche Macaulay, Sunshine produced by Alpha Vision, Bent Arrows by Isang Awah and Communication for Change’s Bayelsan Sillhouttes are further examples of conservatories, films and stage performances for which Cobhams has written music scores.

On the corporate front, he has produced a great many jingles and theme songs for leading brands and non-profits both local and international, earning himself a reputation outside of the Nigerian entertainment industry, for excellence and versatility of style in music. In 2017 Cobhams starred in the MTN commercial Blind Faith, following years of production work for the brand and a year-long brand ambassadorship. He has appeared in similar ads for major brands like GTBank, Skye Bank (now Polaris Bank), Keystone Bank, Union Bank and FreislandCampina’s Peak Milk; and written and produced songs for Coca-Cola, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Cadbury, Reckitt Benkiser and Guinness among many others.

Albums

For You 2017 (Debut)

Singles

We Plenti feat. Simi, 2019

More than Pretty, 2019

Starlight, 2019

Everyday feat. Bez and Sound Sultan, 2018

Unstoppable, 2018

One Hit, 2018

Adore feat. Lauretta Cookey and Fome Peters, 2016

Boosit feat. Falz the Bahd Guy, 2016

The Other Room feat. Ugovinna, 2016

Empty, 2016

Star of Wonder, 2015

Do the Right Thing feat. Bez, 2015

Stronger than Before feat. Morayo, 2015

Ordinary People, 2014

Cobhams is passionate about social change, humanitarian work and advocacy, and applies his musical talents to meaningful causes whenever he can. In 2020 he was officially named UNICEF National Ambassador for Nigeria. The announcement came after years of collaborating with UNICEF Nigeria, and shortly after he released the song "We Go Win" in conjunction with the organisation as part of its response to the Corona Virus pandemic. In the same year Cobhams produced "Stand Together" for ONE Foundation; another corona virus awareness song. It featured 2Baba, Ahmed Soultan, Ben Pol, Teni the Entertainer, Yemi Alade, Amanda Black, Stanley Enow, Gigi La Mayne, Prodigio and Betty G; artists from all over the continent of Africa. The project had to be produced and recorded remotely due to corona virus travel restrictions.

In January 2019, he produced Not for Sale, the official anthem for Vote Not Fight, an electoral awareness campaign organised by the European Centre for Electoral Support (ECES) in partnership with Nigeria’s electoral organisation, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The campaign which was aimed at sensitizing Nigerians to their voting rights and encouraging them not to sell their votes, employed the additional talents of notable Nigerian musicians 2Baba, MI, Teni, Niniola, Waje, and others.

In the same year Cobhams created the song For Every Child as the theme song for the celebration of the adoption of UNICEF’s CRC (Convention of the Rights of the Child) in Nigeria.

In 2018 Cobhams participated as an official influencer for the European Union in a campaign for the continued sustainability of Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs) established by the European Union and funded and British Council implemented Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (RoLAC) programme in Nigeria. He also participated in the 2018 edition of the annual 16 Days of Activism campaign to end gender based violence.

For the UN Global Goals campaign in 2015, Cobhams co-produced the song Tell Everybody. The song again featured various African artistes – Sautisol (Kenya), Mafikizolo (South Africa), Yemi Alade (Nigeria) and Diamond Platnumz (Tanzania). Later the same year Cobhams performed the song live at the 2015 Global Citizens Festival in Central Park, New York.

Also in 2015, Cobhams produced the Strong Girl anthem for the Poverty is Sexist campaign organised by ONE. He employed the vocal stylings of African female artists Waje (Nigeria), Victoria Kimani (Kenya), Vanessa Mdee (Tanzania), Arielle T (Gabon), Gabriela (Mozambique), Yemi Alade (Nigeria), Selmor Mtukudzi (Zimbabwe), Judith Septum (South Africa) and Blessing Nwafor (South Africa). Cobhams subsequently produced a remix of Strong Girl featuring Bono for ONE.

Through ONE, Cobhams attended the US – Africa Summit in 2014 and visited the White House in Washington DC. He joined Nigerian musicians Femi Kuti, D’Banj, Omawumi, Victoria Kimani and others who had featured in the song Cocoa na Chocolate; produced by Cobhams for ONE as part of a campaign to boost investments in agriculture in Africa. Thatsame year, the centinary celebration of the coming together of the Northern and Southern Protectorates of Nigeria was held under the auspices of the office of the Secretary to the government of the federation. As part of the celebrations, a live concert was organised with Cobhams as the music director. Also in 2014, Cobhams performed at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Cobhams started his record label - Cobhams Asuquo Music Production (CAMP) - in 2008, under which he signed Nigerian alternative soul singer Bez, and several others. Bez’s debut 15-track album Super Sun was released in 2011, and his sophomore album Gbagyi Child in 2016. Both were produced by Cobhams and released under the CAMP record label. In the month of its release – December 2011, Super Sun claimed the No. 3 spot on the Boston Globe’s World Music top albums of 2011.

The label ran successfully for several years until the Nigerian music industry began to change in a way that significantly challenged its small business model. Cobhams who at the time was on the verge of immigrating to the United States, decided to liquidate CAMP while he took the time to seek a new business approach. In 2016, he started Vintage Gray Media Ltd. in Lagos, Nigeria; a media and entertainment company focused on content creation, music production and discovering, nurturing and exposing extraordinary musical talent – a core passion of Cobhams’. Recognising that too many talented Nigerian musicians were falling through the cracks and would likely never get the recognition they deserve, Cobhams through Vintage Gray Media Ltd. created the podcast The Top 12 Countdown with Cobhams Asuquo, a weekly music countdown show which features 12 of the best new music releases from fresh, upcoming, Nigerian talent, in a bid to give them some exposure. Ultimately, his dream is to syndicate the show for local radio stations all over Nigeria to broaden its reach and connect more listeners with the new talents featured on the show.

In 2008 Cobhams appeared as a songwriting guest mentor on the MTV Base reality show: “Advance Warning.” He has been profiled by the BBC, CNN and Forbes Africa, several times cumulatively over the course of his career, including a full length interview on CNN International’s African Voices in December 2011, in 2016 and in 2020. In August 2019, Penresa, an independent consulting agency in conjunction with CNBC Africa featured Cobhams in a documentary called Nigeria: A New Beginning. He made several appearances on Coke Studio Africa Season 3 as a music producer, and for eight seasons was a live judge and music consultant on Nigeria’s hit reality TV talent show franchise Project Fame West Africa.

On December 2, 2010, Cobhams Emmanuel Asuquo married Ojuolape Veronica Olukanni. They have two sons together.[2]

• List of Nigerian gospel musicians

• CNN story on Cobhams Asuquo
• edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2020/05/29/nigeria-cobhams-asuquo-africa-inside-africa-spc.cnn
• forbesafrica.com/arts/2013/04/01/blind-faith/
• unicef.org/nigeria/press-releases/unicef-nigeria-names-cobhams-asuquo-national-ambassador