THE FAME YEARS…

As usual, I threw myself into the job (at Climax) like a maniac; such that eight months after, I received another nomination for entertainment writing. By the end of the year, I was prevailed upon to take the magazine to another level as its editor. However, less than six months on the job, I had to make a tearful exit. Again, my employer, an astute mentor and quiet inspiration, did not want me to leave. Reinventing the niche of the magazine was just at its infancy level, and he direly wanted a little more of my time. But he recognized the unchallengeable desire to run after my own dream. He did not want to stand against the momentum of my groovy train; he understood clearly, since he himself was at the same station many years earlier.

So, on Saturday, July 6, 1991, we launched Fame Weekly publication, a black & white tabloid to challenge the reigning journal – Weekend Concord. We wanted to be the best, and in our youthful exuberance, we felt our ambition could only be matched by an ego that would take on the best in our field. I remember the day like last week: there we were in the Adeniyi Jones Avenue sitting room of Kunle’s publisher, the late May Ellen Ezekiel (a great kind-hearted spirit who helped us tremendously in stoking the fire of our dream) and her husband Richard Mofe Damijo, discussing the sense and nonsense involved in hitting the streets on the same day with Weekend Concord, the market leader. Those were great heady days.

Under two years however, we realized the futility of “dragging” the turf with Weekend Concord, since we didn’t have an MKO behind us. So, we re-strategized, repositioned and rebranded. We introduced colour and perked up the cover price. In all that, we didn’t stop working hard. Really, hard. So, we were not surprised when money, fame, awards, friends and all the fringe benefits of success started pursuing us – three young, life-loving, still-impressionable boys from relatively humble backgrounds. It was a recipe for implosion of disastrous consequences.

About six years after the Fame partnership took off from the rooftop, it crashed to earth spectacularly in May, 2007. The mess of the episode is left for another forum.
What happened or did not happen in Fame magazine (now defunct) is not useful in this story. The only useful fact emanating from the fun, the glory, the pains and the controversies of the Fame years was that I met Jesus Christ in a funny way, and subsequently surrendered my life and ways on December 29, 1996 – six clear months before the first major crisis of my life erupted.

Thank God for the preparation that was done before the calamity landed. I believe strongly that if it was the crisis that got me close to God, the scars would have been too deep to forget.
The overwhelming lesson of the Fame years is: you must test your friendship very well, and many times, before you set up business partnerships with them. I was not very close to Mayor before Fame. The first serious test exposed the holes in our relationship; but by then it was too late to jump ship. With Kunle, it was different. We were like soul-mates. But age, success and other matters later put that to its own crucible. That’s a story for another day. Katchya.