Career Killers: Celebs who made wrong turns in their career paths

In pursuit of fame and success, celebrities give their all. However, hasty decisions often lead to a wrong turn for some, write STEVENS MUENDO and MATILDA NZIOKI

Few men can resist her sensational allure when she hits the stage and gets down gyrating her God-given assets. Hate or like her, but Linet Munyali aka Size 8 cannot be ignored.

After the release of her new video, Fire, the singer cut a fresh uptown image and received accolades from fans.

Suddenly she was headed towards local showbiz super stardome. She won awards. She sold records and wrenched cash through concerts. In a span of six months, the new girl in town had claimed her space.

Little wonder that many had tipped her to land a major role on Shuga II: Money, Love, Sex the urban TV drama which pooled Nairobi’s new kids on the block in it. However, after the auditions were done, the Shamba Boy singer was left in the woods.

In chilling contrast, her sweet-romance acting talent ended up in Mashtaka, the refurbished sort of Vioja Mahakamani comic TV show, acting as Rosie Lawama, the controversial nag.

Her music fans heavily criticised the move. Her character Rosie, wore an utterly different demeanour from the sassy Size 8 they all adored. To them, it was a step down to the ‘ghetto’ and showbiz pundits viewed it as a suicidal career move.

"I signed the Mashtaka deal when I was still at Calif. I know people have been criticising the move. However, I have made many new fans especially the elderly from the TV drama show," Size 8 defended herself, during an interview with Pulse on Wednesday.

The sassy ‘8’, however, admits that acting Rosie sort of threw her fans into confusion and slowed down her runway music success as she opted off the studio to record the draining TV episodes. What will be sweet music to her fans’ ears is that she has taken a break from the TV shows.

Comeback plot

Beating the retreat could just be yet another ‘sixth sense’ career salvaging move for the star who is never shy to experiment. She is said to be already working on a totally different pilot TV show. Her video to the Ogopa stamped single Vidonge hit the airwaves yesterday. Now she is bolstering her positive know-it-all attitude as she wades her way back to the helm.

To a celebrity, public image is everything. How they package themselves goes a long way in dictating how we classify each of them. A simple miscalculated divergence from the usual, even when one is rebranding or simply moving to the next level can deal a death knell to an artiste’s career.

Over the years, singers, radio presenters, actors, TV anchors and even scribes have sunk into oblivion because they made the wrong gear at the height of their blossoming career.

From the XYZ break-up, Kajairo’s comical end, Didge’s music-radio mix, Circute and Joel’s gospel "relieve", Mashifta’s Norway brewed love and Gidi Gidi Maji Maji’s marriage break-up, many promising Kenyan groups have come and fizzled away out of issues which could have been avoided if caution was put to play.

Big Brother Sheila Kwamboka’s foul play on music and radio is nothing but the same last stroke that got Didge off the limelight just as it was the same of Sanaipei Tande, a talented singer who has since quit radio to enhance her singing career. (Or do we blame it on the growing up Manga love controversy?)

And just what happened to Sheila Rabala, the reality TV search dancing queen who astronomically scaled her way to radio fame at Homeboyz before moving to One FM, then to showbiz oblivion?

The list of local celebrities whose careers made an about turn out of what seemed to be wrong choices is endless. In fact, world over, famous men and women have ended up on self-destruction path after stepping off their right lanes.

Recently, hip-hop icon TI received an invitation to perform with country music singer Taylor Swift at one of her concerts. However, TI was at a loss. He talked about how such an appearance might impact his ‘street cred’.

He was just days out of prison when Swift invited him to join her Atlanta concert. Coping with the catch-22 situation, he said, "The dilemma becomes street cred (or) Hollywood."

He even went so far as to think about some people calling such an appearance "career suicide".

"As a ‘gangsta rap’ artiste, to find yourself on stage with ‘America’s sweetheart,’ for some people, that could be a dangerous career move".

Lets keep the debate local and sample a few cases here:

Longombas

It still remains a mystery how the Longombas, the sensational Kenyan hip-hop-soukous duo that raised eyebrows all over the continent after lifting the coveted Kora Awards in 2005 — could relocate to Los Angeles at the height of their career.

Their idea was to go and repackage as they sought to conquer new territories in the land of milk and honey. As they did so, they lost ground at home as P Unit, one of Kenya’s top ranking boy band, filled the vacuum.

The Shika More hit maker’s death (before the new rise) was another satire weaved in love as Lovi, one of the two brothers pursued his girlfriend Ida Onyango all the way to Los Angeles at the expense of their music career.

Debbie Asila

For someone who had cut a niche in celeb-dome when artistes were literally worshipped in Kenya, it would be hard to agree with Tattu singer Debbie Asila that starring in Papa Shirandula was the next frontier. We would be excused for thinking she was about to give us a Nollywood surprise. We love Papa Shirandula, but only in the lines of Charles Bukeko, Njoro and Wilbroda and not our beloved tinsel town-like Debbie. Her move from Tattu to Kiss 100 and then to Papa Shirandula is so baffling that we fear she might soon audition for a Mama Kayai replacement call. Really?

Kajairo

What Ghetto Radio Mbusi’s fans are getting from him, they had in Kajairo some seven years ago. His afternoon reggae show on Kiss 100 alongside Debbie Asila was a hit. From matatus to small businesses centres and all "Sandra", the hilarious Kajairo was the man calling the shots. That aside, he was ruling in comedy shows and emceeing major concerts.

Whoever spruced his ego to imagine that his radio and TV fame equalled political success must never be forgiven.

In the wake of the 2007 General Election, Kajairo went into politics. Since then, he has been trying to wade his way off the murky political sewer and back to comedy. But how does he clinch it back to the top with the new acts having taken the whole game to a new height?

Didge

When some music genres were still a myth to Kenyan singers, plugging into the ethereal vibe of urban soul was a fresh, dimple-faced youthful crooner. They called him Didge. On the leeward, he was Max Nyatome!

The hunk became the heartthrob of every girl as he charmed them with his blend of Soul and RnB, which had an injection of hip-hop and jazz flavour. As he headed to the continental reality TV show Project Fame, Didge was clearly Kenya’s big shot to watch.

But alas! He thought his soft spoke charm would be better utilised in radio and not music. Thus ditched singing for a late night radio show where it was claimed he would send many to bed with his soothing Saa Zingine wit. As his radio fans went to bed, so did his singing career and away with the wind went his radio stint. Now, he is plotting a come back, where to start even us we are at a loss.

Sheila Rabala

Few participants in talent searches get a chance to pursue what they were seeking when they don’t make it as winners. Sheila was one of them. She got a lifeline in the form of a job with the then new kids of the block, Homeboyz Radio, after trying out for the MTV VJ search competition, which she had lost by a whisker.

The hard working social Sheila scaled her way to the enviable radio boss slot at Homeboyz before moving to the new urban One FM. And how long did she last there? A week? Two weeks?

Out of radio, Sheila is now busy with new marital responsibilities. She is not off the wagon yet as she landed a new PR job. But that is away from her radio and showbiz careers, which we firmly believe are her strength.

KJ

Like Kajairo, at the height of his comedy and entertainment career, KJ left showbiz for politics. His is just the same ‘Kajairo’ script, just with a different cast. KJ sort of adopted a "don’t talk about me and showbiz embargo stance" because he is now in politics. As a young chap looking for youth votes, that worries us even more.

Lexxy — XYZ

After about five years, one member of the early 2000s praised Boomba group XYZ resurfaced. That was Alex, who, having apparently landed from the US, was living in South C with his air hostess fiancÈe. He released one non-memorable track, had a public feud with former associate Santos and fell back to his cocoon. If only the group or even the members had stuck around and kept on with the streak that they were already on.

And the rest...

As for Bamboo, Nyashinski (formerly of Klepto) and Mercy Myra, it seems we have lost near-irreplaceable dimes.

Others like Eric Omondi escaped the ill-advised career moves by a whisker, as he reclaimed himself soon enough by doing a hasty retreat after the wrong decision. This was when he rushed to fly before growing his own wings, then as a young comedian. So under the wings of Churchill he found solace — and more importantly, a new lease of life.