Eva is grateful for having accomplished more than she could have ever dreamed of as a young girl. As a woman matured by all of life's experiences, she has gone back to her roots with her upcoming (yet-to-be named) project and reconnected with her core group of musical and spiritual friends. Once more she will employ her sultry powerful voice, her tremendous vocal and stylistic range, and take us on an ultimate journey of the soul. On the track “Echoes”, one can feel Eva’s rage as she asks the listeners to feel with her this uncontrollable outburst of emotion. And we do. Rich in tone and pungent with emotion, Eva uses her voice as a true instrument to convey her raw, unvarnished and heart-retching feelings about the ongoing religious conflict that have plagued the Niger Delta, JOS and parts of Southeast Nigeria, her country of birth. With the track “Happy Days”, she contributes sultry duet and backing vocals which are occasionally interspersed by Ruddy Tee’s Yoruba rap. It is worth noting that this is the first official song on which EVA is a featured artiste.
In anticipation of the release of the singles, ECHOES (I hear the Cries) and HAPPY DAYS (Ruddy Tee ft. Eva’D’Diva), Eva sat down with me for a rare and unusually candid conversation. As she noted in our interview, “there’s no point in writing music without honesty. Failure to do so makes the music sound hollow and staged….I certainly want people to emotionally connect to my music”. We are bringing you the first installment of this interview, with the remaining portion to follow in the next few weeks.
Q: Ms. Eva D’Diva, thank you very much for granting me this interview. I’m sure our readers would be interested in learning about you. Let’s start at the beginning: Eva, tell us a little about yourself?
Eva: Well, My real name is Evaezihohifue Ogoro. A light interpretation of that name is A PURE HEART IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR EVIL. I am the 4th out of 5 kids from my parents Engr. and Mrs. C.E Ogoro. I have 3 brothers and a sister. I hail from Delta State... I am Isoko. I was born on the 13th of July. I studied English in the University of Lagos and got my B.A in 2005. My favorite foods are pasta (OMG!!!! I could eat pasta for weeks non-stop and still not get tired. My friends say dem don use am swear for me lol) and Plantain. I have a terrible sweet tooth (shaking her head) reeeeeaaaally terrible. I guess that's why I don’t drink... because if it isn’t sweet... I won’t have it lol. I love kids. If I wasn’t into entertainment, I'd be teaching in a secondary school somewhere. I am a hopeless romantic. I looooove watching movies. That's my favorite pass time activity. I also loooooove video games. I suffered from a major inferiority complex all through my childhood to my teen years. Girls in secondary school told me I was hideously ugly and that I looked like a man because my breasts didn’t develop when theirs did. So, I had more male friends than females in secondary school. I am pretty simple. I go through life not wanting the extra emotional baggage of trying so hard to please people. I love to write.... that's how I can truly and properly express myself without fists flying in the air. LOL!
Q: When and how did you start making music? How did your family shape your singing career?
Eva: Well, music became an obsession ever since I was little and I have Whitney Houston to thank for that. I watched one of her live performances one day on TV and I was so captivated by it.... so where the audience. And so... something just got triggered on the inside of me. It was rather profound...thinking back on it now. For like a split second, I saw myself on that stage, in that same position... having that same effect on people... you know. I really can’t describe it. LOL I guess it might have been how Moses felt when He saw the burning bush. You see it but you can’t believe it. It was just like a higher calling. So... after that... I paid more attention to music.... to songs by Whitney Houston, Toni Braxton, Escape, SWV, Celine Dion, Anita Baker and the likes. I would sing their songs around the house. I would try to sound exactly like them and that's how I learnt how to sing. I never went to Music school or anything. It was a conscious effort on my part to sound like one of the greats. My elder sister and younger brother also caught the music bug and we subconsciously formed like an informal 3 man group. Men!!!! I enjoyed those times. We would sit on the stairs and sing till mum came back from work in the night. Our harmony was always on point and my sister was always telling us when we went off key because she was always in one choir or the other and so she knew the technical side to music but i felt the passion... and we would sing and laugh about it.
When I was in secondary school, my uncle - Kingsley Ogoro brought home Esse Agesse. He was introducing her to my dad...who is the eldest in the family and while they were upstairs talking about wedding plans and all that. I was downstairs... reveling in the presence of Esse Agesse. I would sing her songs back to her to try and impress her. I am talking about her hits such as Fine Peppersoup, Bendel girl in Lagos, Back to the Basics and so on. LMAO!!!! She must have seen me as a major pest. I soon graduated from secondary school and started chasing my uncle around the place to help me out with my music career. I had to quietly look for him because my dad didn’t want to hear such lofty ideas about music. As far as he was concerned, it wasn't a real job and serious minded people did not think of such... which was kinda funny because he had roped us all into a family band called the Emonena Gospellers...OMG!!!! I can still remember how high our shoulder pads were LWKM!!!! I was the alto singer, my sister was the Treble, My younger brother shuttled between drums and the Agogo. My dad was the lead guitarist. He wrote all his songs, majorly in Isoko and we would sing (shaking her head) However, in 1997, I had an accident and had to be removed from the group because the injuries I incurred were - a crushed Voice box, a narrowed Trachea, a fractured Spinal Cord. So I was both dumb and paralyzed for a while. I remember my biggest fear after the fear of death was the fear of not being able to sing again. That was a nightmare. My sister will flutter around the house singing and I would be in my room... with a huge caste from head to waist... crying. So... what I did was that I forced myself to sing. I could not wait for the voice box to heal. I needed to start singing then and there....The impatience is what now constitutes as my vocal signature. There is a wheezy, airy nature to my voice. It wasn’t always so... at least..not before the car accident. Even after I recovered, I went looking for my uncle again to further my dreams of being a musician which he silently refused. I mean, he kept dodging me and giving me excuses. So... erm.... in University of Lagos, I did some singing for campus fellowships until I graduated. And just when I was about throwing in the towel.... this God-send... a dear friend of mine called Bolaji Onisiwo who was working as a sound engineer at a recording studio called me and opted to use his salary to pay for a studio session for me. He got producers together and even called a couple of Radio DJs to help promote the song on air. Men!!!! the boy try. It was one of the tracks we did that my uncle later heard and was like... 'Meeeeeeeeeeeeen!!!!! im get goldmine for im backyard all this while wen im dey suffer imself to chase coins'. So... for about a year plus... we worked together and he helped me jump start career with my first hit single ' NO CRY'. We eventually had a fall out in 2007 and I have been on my own since with great support from Gray Tiger Entertainment :) The rest they say… is history.
Q: Who are your biggest influences?
Eva: My biggest influences should be my mum…She is a fighter and yet has the heart of a child. The babe doesn’t take challenges lying down LOL. She is a praying and a giving woman. A mother, in every sense of the word at heart. Other influences should be Mary J. Blige, you can feel the truth and magic of music in her voice and songs... she gets me every time. Whitney Houston definitely... there is something just rich and deep about her vocals and delivery. My pastor recently joined this list, Pastor Poju Oyemade of Covenant Christian Center. You don’t get as real and as deep as Pastor Poju... R.Kelly brings out the spiritualism, the Professionalism and the Commercialism of music in every song very nicely. That dude is a legend! Michael Jackson.... I still haven’t seen a musician who is as dedicated and who works at this profession with every ounce of his or her being like the late Michael Jackson. Dude was..... CWAAAAZY GREAT!!!
Q: Any new songs on the upcoming album that you are particularly proud of? (or any of your albums for that matter) and why? Any plans for coming to North America?
Eva: I am proud of all my songs. They all came to me at different points in my life. So listening to them, takes me back each time and reminds me of the resolve that has made me out to be a better person. 'Shades of Gray' as the first album was called was like a rough sketch. We were approached by some interested individuals who wish to take the album to the next level. So I am currently working on a revised version of that album...adding a little bit more flavor and a little bit more Eva :) it should be out before the end of the first quarter in 2011. There are no immediate plans to come to North America but if the opportunity does present itself... I will definitely be on the first flight out. I would love to come see and enjoy the sights and sounds of North America. :)
Q.I have heard and read a number of comments by individuals who have stated that your sound is a hybrid between old school-like Lagbaja with the beats. Some music reviewers have gone as far as comparing your soaring vocals and music videos to next door neighbor Angelique Kidjo. You bear an uncanny resemblance to Eve, the hip-hop star. What do you make of this comparison and all the attention?
Eva: LOL... yea... the comparisons. Eve is the one that I have had to listen to for sooooooooooooooo long. I honestly don’t think I look like her but hey... sight is relative. A hybrid huh??? well... Change is good I believe and I believe that it is very necessary for one to constantly re-invent themselves. But I have a huge love for old school jams. There is something 'selfless' about the music they did in those days. It was bigger than just selling records. People entered music for the love of the art. Music changed lives in those days. It’s not like now that music is a last resort and thanks to digital vocal enhancers, everybody believes they can sing. Artistes have started getting lazy... you know. So... I guess a part of me choose to remain with the spirit of the old... and so when I sit with my producers... I nid to get that magic... that 'substance' that we seem to have lost in today's music. I guess the Angelique Kidjo comparism is also due to the hair and the Africanism in my brand LOL.... what can I say??? I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE AFRICA!!!! I rep her till I die.
Q: Do you write your own songs?
Eva: Yes... I write all my songs.... I do all the vocal work. I am very much involved in the whole process. From inception to finish. I am there when they mix and master. This is because I used to dabble in sound engineering while working with my uncle... so... I guess I am sort of a Jack of all trades.
Q: Where can your fans and music lovers check out your music?
Eva: For now... my fans and music lovers can check out my stuff at WWW.REVERBNATION.COM/EVADDIVA that's where they can get my work... fresh from me.
Q: Are there any musicians you would love to collaborate with?
Eva: You know... it’s all about who compliments your style and energy. So I will definitely love to do a collabo with Mary J. Blige, R.Kelly, Erykah Badu, Usher, T.Pain... that’s all for now!
Q: How did you arrive at the name Eva D’Diva and what image do you think your music conveys?
Eva: My friends added DIVA to my name because they believe a DIVA is a woman who is on top of her hustle.... not necessarily a 'pretty in pink' sorta gal.. But someone who has been through the fire and who is now coming out as pure gold. I think the message behind my music is one of survival and self-preservation. You will notice that most of the song has a strong 'god dependency' and that is because my family and I at some point were 'hit hard by life and left for dead'. No one was interested in helping out... so survival and self preservation wasn’t an option for us. We just had to prove them all wrong. We are stronger and the better for it now :) so when people see me.... they see a passionate fighter, someone who will not easily give up and someone who still believes in the beauty and Justice of the Universe and the existence of God... You will also see someone who is proud of her roots and tries to promote it anywhere and in any way she can.
Check back soon for the second part to our interview with Eva’D’Diva. She also is a must-follow on Twitter @EVANAIJA .
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