Delta State born musician, Tony Grey is no doubt one of the best musicians to have come out of Nigeria. The respected musician who started his career in early 70s kept night life alive in the rich oil city of Warri. Tony Grey who passed on at the age of 70 in the early hours of Monday April 10th, 2017 is popular for hit songs like She is my love, My message and Come back love.
He was the in- house musician at Lido Nite Club Warri in the early 70s. Lido was the hub of night clubbing in Old Bendel State. The sprawling oil city at that time attracted fun lovers from far and near especially Benin, Auchi, Agbor and many others all anchoring at Lido where Tony grey held sway.
Fondly called Ozimba , the music legend once said in an interview how Warri lost her night life to civil unrests. According to him: “Between the late 1960s and early 1980s, Warri was one of the hottest entertainment cities in the country. But we lost everything to the violent political struggles and civil unrests that swept through the city in recent time”
Grey who hails from Aboh town in Ndokwa East Local Government Area of Delta State, developed keen interest in football and music. Since music was the stronger of both passions, he found himself embracing it as his career.
In his words: “Music had a stronger influence on me than football. So, in those days when the likes of Cardinal Rex Lawson, Celestine Ukwu, Zeb Phillips, Osita Osadebe, King Kennytone and Sir Victor Uwaifo were ruling the entertainment scene in the country, I found myself going into show business” he said.
Grey finally dumped football for music after he discovered that he had more friends among the musicians of the time and they were ready to help him start a career in music. At the tender age of 17, he had started learning how to play the guitar and other musical instruments. In no time, he was encouraged to join some of his friends in forming a band.
However, he got his big opening when a rift in the music band at the popular Lido Nite Club at the time, led to the dissolution of the band and the leader had to work with Chief Edewor’s River Valley Nite Club also in Warri. Young Grey was approached and after a short audition he was given the job. At that time, his salary was £2 and 10 Shillings a far departure from what he was earning as a footballer. Grey had to accept the job because of his passion for music.
Subsequently, he got a record deal from EMI – the recording company that handled the likes of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti and Sunny Okosuns, among other big names – and eventually recorded his first solo album, titled ‘She is my love’. He went on to record a total of nine albums with the company.
Before his death, he said his albums didn’t make him wealthy, but he had no regrets for choosing music as a career because he enjoyed the fame that came along with being a sought after musician. Tony Grey’s music journey didn’t start from the bottom; he had to serve his way to greatness. He started in 1968 and met great musicians like Greg Kosin, Ositas Bubo, Emperor and others who used to come to Warri to play. Whenever they came around, he would be the first boy to go and serve them, buy anything they wanted. He released his first album in 1969 and called it Sparking Jet.
His mother bought him his first ever guitar as a form of encouragement which further boosted his confidence and he looked up to the likes of James Brown, Victor Uwaifo and Fela Anikulapo Kuti.
Tony Grey will be remembered fondly for the indelible impact he made in the Delta State music industry and Nigeria at large. He would be greatly missed by members of the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN)