Izuchukwu OkosiStand-up comedienne, Helen Paul has revealed that she was the voice that said, ‘Uncle, please, tell us a story’, in Psquare’s hit song ‘Story’. A song released in 2005 by the sensational twins, Peter and Paul Okoye.
The comedienne who is one of Nigeria’s most celebrated comic stars made this disclosure on the Honest Bunch podcast hosted by On-Air-Personality and comedian ‘Nedu Africa’ and his crew.
Paul was working as a receptionist before fate smiled at her and she explains how the turnaround came about with the voice job for Psquare.
“At the beginning, I didn’t know P Square. I didn’t even know they were going to blow.
“They came to the studio, and they wanted to record their songs. I think they were expecting some children to come and were disappointed.
So, Ayoadeife said: “We have somebody who can do this voice, and this person can do all the range children,” she added.
“I didn’t know what range was, but I was just very good at imitating voices to date. I was a receptionist then, and when they told them, they agreed.
And the guy just said, Helen, ‘You will work in the nights, but we’re not paying much. I said, I don’t care; just buy me a ‘soft drink’, because I loved it at the time.
“So they gave me the job, and I did the voicing of the children in the song. So they merged all the different children. So it sounded full. When the song started reigning, I didn’t even know what it was to put your name on a song; I didn’t fight for it.”
Helen Paul also revealed that her voice got her many jobs, and she moved from earning N9,500 monthly to over N400,000.
She said, “The next job I did was for another milk product. I was at the reception when they brought this job, and they told me the child that was to do it was having exams.
“They said they would not be able to take that in the office because the advert needed to air at 3 p.m. and it was noon, so they were looking for a baby voice.
“Uncle Ayo said, ‘Let’s try Helen’ and they brought me in to lay the voice, which I did. After the ad, I signed a paper for which I didn’t know the content. At that point, my salary was N9,500; I started receiving about N400,000 or N450,00 every month.”
During the podcast, Helen Paul also gave credit to former Marketing Manager at Daar Communications Limited and later Kennis Music Group, Dayo Adeneye (DOne), who also recommended her for another voice job.
The co-presenter of the television show, Jara, with former winner of Big Brother Africa, Uti Nwachukwu, also narrated how she navigated the hurdles that came her way before she got married.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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