Gospel Music Times Feature Article
Iyke Onka - Reaching Africans for Christ
by Cliff Shelder
One day a couple of years ago I received an email that went something like this:
Hello
My name is Iyke Onka, I am a Christian singer, songwriter, and producer from Nigeria and I need a publisher.
My first thought was that it must be another internet scam designed to bilk some naïve, unsuspecting elderly American out of some easy money. Just to prove myself right, I went ahead and did an internet search of the name Iyke Onka and, low and behold, I came up with dozens of pages of information all confirming that Iyke Onka (pronounced "ike on-kah") was exactly who he said he was. One of the pages I came across was a YouTube video of Iyke performing his song All I Wanna Do; when I heard this incredible song, I was blown away by the talent of this young man. I then listened to some of the songs on his ReverbNation page, and every one of them was exceptional; I was so moved by these songs that I called my wife out to the studio and had her listen to them. The next day I contacted Iyke and asked him to mail me a couple of his CD's which he did, and we eventually ended up helping him get affiliated with BMI, and signing him to a publishing and management contract.
Residing in his home town of Lagos, Nigeria with his wife and two small children, Iyke Onka is one of those rare born-to-do-it music artists whose music history dates back to early childhood. He grew up performing and playing several musical instruments in his family band alongside his musician-parents and siblings. He wrote his first song at the age of 10 under the guidance of his songwriter-Dad and has been performing in Churches and Christian events since an early age. Armed with his intense passion for music and a Bachelor of Technology degree in Industrial Physics, it wasn’t hard for Iyke to create a niche for himself in today's music industry. He started out in 1999 as a songwriter, music producer and studio audio engineer. Five years later, in 2004, he launched out to fulfill his calling as a solo Christian music artist. Today he is successfully making a happy union of talent, inspiration and knowledge in his music and blessing the souls of many in the process. Two successful CD releases, Another Miracle and Fly High, have established Iyke as one of the top Contemporary Christian artists on the African Continent, and he can be heard on Christian radio stations throughout the world. In 2011 Iyke was featured on a 700 Club segment filmed in Nigeria.
I have spoken with Iyke many times via Skype, and I can truly say that he is one of the finest young men that I know. He is an anointed songwriter and performer who' is sold out to serving the Lord. Iyke has a dream of one day coming to the U.S. and performing a series of concerts, but so far the expense of such an endeavor has been beyond our reach; please pray that the Lord will provide the resources.
I encourage you to view Iyke's videos at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEKbmLAQ0oQ.
For more information and to hear song samples visit: www.iykeonka.com
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