Death,
it is generally believed, is an inevitable end for all creatures. This
year, the entertainment industry has literally been hit at different
times by the deaths of some notable celebrities.
In some sense, it has been like a harvest of deaths, writes Mercy Michael.
They
are in the eyes of the public. When anything happens to them, the
people are always eager to know the details. Their privacy is flung out
of the window the moment they become celebrities. Welcome to the world
of entertainers, actors, actresses and musicians.
This outgoing
year the entertainment industry has been hit by good news. It has also
been hit by bad news. Some of these bad news were about the death of
members of the industry, who, over the years, have brought smiles to the
faces of the people, either with their music or their acting prowess.
From the aged Fatai Rolling Dollars to the youthful Goldie, the industry has had its fair share of the deaths in the year.
Fatai Rolling Dollar
One
of Nigeria’s oldest highlife musicians, Fatai Olayiwola Olagunju,
popularly known as Fatai Rolling Dollars, died in June this year.
He died at 85 at Marritol Hospital, Surulere, Lagos, following a brief illness.
Rolling
Dollars, who had three wives and 16 children, was reportedly on a
musical tour of the United States when he took ill and had to return
home.
He was admitted initially at Ahmadiya Hospital in
Abule-Egba area of Lagos, before he was transferred to Marritol Hospital
in Surulere, where he died.
Juju music legend-turned-Evangelist,
Ebenezer Obey, while reacting to Rolling Dollars’ death, described him
as “an epitome of decency and a talented musician.”
