Highlife musician Sly Collins has advised his colleagues to make good use of the opportunity they have as musicians to advertise themselves and market their businesses.
“It is not just about being a musician, you need to use your position to make business contacts and advance yourself,” he said.
The highlife musician disclosed that ever since he joined the music industry in 1979, he has been able to utilise the opportunities in the industry to market himself and his companies.
“I do not see life as a joke and I work very hard to make it. I make good use of the opportunity I have as a musician to advertise myself as well as my businesses. It is not just about being a musician, you need to use your position to make business contacts and advance yourself,” he explained.
In an interview with BEATWAVES, Sly said, “My mission is to use music to preach peace and unity among the people in the society. I have been a patriotic musician for the past 30 years, using music as a tool to preach peace and unity among the people.”
He revealed that he joined the music industry Nigeria in 1979 after he was fully motivated to start music by Nigerian musicians when he was in Nigeria and was convinced to join various bands till he decided to form his own band, Gold Fingers, in 1991.
Whilst in Nigeria, Sly mentioned that he performed on a number of music platforms in Nigeria with a number of international musicians, including Ghanaian musicians such as Kofi Sammy, Alex Konadu, Captain Newman, Dave Menson, The Blue Diamond Band, among others.
“Music is my life and has been part of me from childhood. Look, even when I am performing to a live band, I can actually detect when the sound is not right or when an instrumentalist goes off-beat,” he revealed.
The legendary highlife musician who was born in the Ashanti Region but grew up in Nigeria where he mostly stayed with his mentor, Fela, can be described as an accomplished musician and a business man by all standards.
Aside music, he manages three companies in Ghana with branches in some parts of Africa and Europe.
“I manage three companies in Ghana, Jia Sheng GH Limited, Solaqua Company Limited and Ghana Direct Limited. I am also the founder and executive director of the Obiba Foundation,” he told BEATWAVES.
The musician hinted that he returned to Ghana in 1994 and released his first album titled ‘Don’t Forget Your Culture’, followed by ‘Yeboa Ghana’ album released in 1998.
In 2000 under Universal Records, Sly released his third album ‘Odo Fantastic’ and 2004 released ‘Total Unity’ under OJEZ Music, a Nigeria-based record label.
Sly Collins revealed that when he realised that music was some years ago not lucrative, he travelled outside the country to search for investors to support his construction firm in Ghana and Nigeria.
According to him, when things were getting better for him, he released his fifth album with a peace song in 2008, then in 2012 another album with another a peace song titled ‘Peace Election’ for the 2012 election on which he featured all the presidential candidates in the song’s music video.
1n 2015, Sly released another album titled ‘Voice of Reason’ which featured stars like Sherifa Gunu, Atinka, Kodzi and Sudha Parkeler from India.
By George Clifford Owusu