JOYCE BLESSING LOOKS FORWARD TO MUSIC AWARDS

Gospel singer, Joyce Blessing may be the fastest rising artiste in town.

Just after she released her best known album last year, Joyce has earned an incredible six nominations in the 2014 edition of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards.

Last Saturday, Joyce’s Heavy Price album was listed in the race for the Gospel Album of the Year, Album of the Year, her Nyame Eguamba from that album had Song of the Year, herself for Gospel Artiste of the Year, Best Female Vocal Performance and Best Collaboration awards.

Joyce told Showbiz over the phone last Monday that she was very grateful to her fans for helping her gain the nominations. “I was more than happy and grateful to my fans for helping me gain that number of nominations.

“I am expecting to win some of the awards, perhaps three or four of them but I am hoping I get to take all of them, she said with a hint of laughter.

Asked how she would take it if she did not win any award, Joyce said, “It would never happen and if that should happen, I would still be excited because I would be Joyce Blessing and Jesus will be Jesus. I don’t have a problem with that, but I know I would definitely win some of the awards.”

Joyce disclosed that contrary to what many people think, Heavy Price is her third album and not the first. She said her first album was Obi Ntu Nyame Fo, and the second was Promise and Fail.

“I thank my fans so much for their support and prayers but I still need their votes.”

According to Joyce, some of her fans are speculating that she had left the music scene. “I want my fans to know that I am fine and that I took some time off to have my son. I’m back and we are moving forward.”

Joyce is married to Dave Joy who is the sound engineer for her music Production Unit.

MUSIGA AWARDS MUSIC INDUSTRY PLAYERS

The Musician Union Of Ghana (MUSIGA) led by Bice Osei Kuffour (Obour) on Wednesday 5th March, 2014.

awarded some players in the music industry, as part of their music week festival for their immerse contributions towards the Ghana music origin. 

Full List Of Winners

1.        Musicians Choice Honour - Kojo Antwi

2.        Music Promoter Honour - Charterhouse Productions

3.        Highlife Musician Honour - Pat Thomas

4.        Hiplife Musician Honour - Okyeame Kwame

5.        Raggae/Dancehall Musician Honour - Shasha Marley

6.        Music Producer/Sound Engineer Honour - Zapp Mallet

7.        International Act Honour - Sonnie Badu

8.        Traditional Music Honour - Wulomei

9.        President Honour - Alhaji Sidiku Buari

10.      Gospel Music Honour - Yaw Sarpong & Asomafo

11.      Music Band Honour -King Shabo Band

12.      Music Industry Development Honour - Abraham Ohene Djan

13.      Music Tutor Honour - Prof Joseph Hanson Nketia

14.      Instrumentalist Honour - Kwame Yeboah

GHANAIAN ACTRESS DUMPS HUSBAND

Ghanaian actress Soraya Mensah has parted ways with the love her life, Peter Ahiakpor, otherwise called Don P, a wealthy Ghanaian businessman, according to reports.

The two lovebirds dated about two years before they had their first daughter. The reason for their separation, however remains unknown. Sources told News-One that they decided to go their separate ways long before their daughter turned three last week. Efforts to reach her yesterday to confirm or deny their separation proved futile as she did not respond to calls to her phone.

The beautiful actress went off the silver screens to have her baby and had been dormant in the movie industry until she appeared in Nadia Buari's produced film, "The Diary of Imogen Brown" at the latter part of last year.

After her previous denial of being pregnant, it appears now that there is nothing to hide anymore.

Ghanaian actress Soraya Kukubor Mensah’s belly looks bigger than ever and it is obvious that she is expecting a baby anytime soon. NEWS-ONE cameras captured the beautiful actress who is half Lebanese the recent Ghana Movie Awards, organized on Christmas Day at the Accra International Centre, looking very pregnant.

From her current state, Soraya appears to have put on some weight due to the pregnancy, such that one hardly recognizes her.

She entered the conference centre for the awards ceremony with a nice dark-skinned gentleman but not many recognized her.

It was also not clear if the man was the one responsible for Soraya’s pregnancy.

However, a source said the man responsible for the pregnancy was a multi billionaire Ghanaian business tycoon who lived in the beautiful parts of Achimota in Accra. His nickname starts with the letter D and ends with P and owns talk-of-town palace-like residence at Achimota in which is parked fleet of luxurious cars.

The actress, according to the source, had been dating him for awhile. How they met is however a different tale for another day.

Though Soraya is considered one of the new but promising faces on the screens, her fans are concerned about how swift she can bounce back to the screens after delivery.

She burst onto the scene in Sparrow Production’s ‘Scorned’ as Chris Attoh’s girlfriend. She went on to feature in Venus Films ‘Hail My Heart’, ‘Prince’s Bride’ and ‘Material Girl.’ She also played a supporting role in ‘The Supremo’ alongside Prince David Osei and Jackie Appiah.

She believes she has great potential for the movie industry but she is, at times, denied the opportunity because of her height. “People kept talking about my height,” she once told NEWS-ONE.

SHATTA WALE RELEASES "ANOTHER LETTER" FOR CHARTERHOUESE

Self-acclaimed Dancehall king ‘ina de whole Ghana’ Shatta Wale has released a new single directed at Charterhouse organizers of Ghana Music Awards after the release of this year’s VGMA nominees.

The song titled “Another Letter” speaks about the fact that he has been nominated again for VGMAs. He asked why the VGMA board decided to nominate him again adding that only God knows why they nominated him again.

In the song, Shatta Wale said his people are going to vote for him again and warned Charterhouse not to ‘steal’ his votes again “because everyone knows who run the game. So remember you can’t stop the fame”.
The “Enter the Net” singer had a piece of advice for Charterhouse in the second verse. “My little advice to them all is to treat artiste all equal”, Shatta sings.

It will be recalled that last year, when Shatta Wale failed to win the “Reggae Dancehall artiste of the year” won by dancehall queen Kaakie, he took the organizers to the cleaners, using very unprintable words on them in a song titled ‘Letter to Charterhouse’.

So after staging a strong comeback, getting multiple nominations at this year’s VGMAs launched last Saturday March 1, 2014, he’s gone ahead to release another song dedicated to the organizers but this time around It’s all good, clean and soft which can easily be played on radio at any time of the day.

We only wonder what would happen if Shatta Wale does not win any award this.

FIPAG IN TALKS WITH IGP TO HELP GHANAIAN FILMMAKERS WITH POLICE ACCOUTREMENTS

Around the third quarter of last year, news broke on Peace FM that, the Ghana Police Service would not allow filmmakers to use the service’s accoutrements in their films.

Speaking to the then Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Police Service, Mr Cephas Arthur, he explained on ‘Entertainment Review’ that the service is forced to come out with such directive due to the image most Ghanaian filmmakers put out there about the Ghana Police Service in their movies and also, majority of the filmmakers do not secure the service’s dresses through the proper procedures.

In his own words, Mr Cephas Arthur said “we have put a ban on the use of our police accoutrements by our filmmakers. We came to that conclusion after we realized that some of them do not seek proper permission from the service before using our accoutrements.

Also, the acts by some of the actors who play the role of police men in the movies are a total misrepresentation of what the Ghana Police Service is. Their depiction of the policemen or police service cuts a slur on our image.

I must emphasize however that, we are not saying we will never allow any filmmaker to use our accoutrements. They should use the proper procedures to acquire them and paint the right image of what the police service is and stand for.”

Asked what the police accoutrements meant, he disclosed that it’s a collective noun for guns, handcuffs, attire, police station, personnel, cells, etc. that the police or security services use for their profession.

Some filmmakers in Kumawood came public, crying foul for the Ghana Police Service to rescind their decision but no one heard any response from the police service or a plea from the quarters of the then FIPAG executive headed by Mr. Augustine Abbey aka Idikoko to the police authorities.

With new executives in FIPAG, GhanaCelebrities.Com called in on the office of FIPAG and spoke with the President, Mr. Stephen Asare Hackman on this issue. “Well, I once heard the Ghana police service came out with such a directive.

However, I wish to inform you that the executives of FIPAG have been in talks with the current IGP to help remove the ban on the use of the police accoutrements in our movies. That issue is being resolved I must say.

“I am very sure that they will call for the scripts from the filmmakers, peruse it, and perhaps, coach the filmmakers on how a professionally trained police man dresses, hold the gun, cause arrest; interrogate suspects, handle suspects, and others.”

GHANA ACTORS GUILD PRESIDENT'S LIFE IN DANGER!

We visited the head office of the Ghana Actors Guild GAG in Accra yesterday Monday 3rd March, 2014 to follow up on a story concerning the guild; only to be bagged in the face with the sad news that the President of the guild, Mr. Samuel Odoi Mensah, needs prayers else.

From what we gathered, Mr. Odoi could not come to the office due to health failure. His condition, as we gathered, is very terrible that he can’t even pick calls or speak with anyone. As we do this publication, Mr. Odoi has been admitted at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.

To verify if indeed he can’t speak to anyone due of his illness, GhanaCelebrities.Com placed calls through his two known cell numbers. Mr. Odoi who will not let a call from GhanaCelebrities.Com ring for more than 30 seconds before picking, did not respond to all 4 calls we placed through his Airtel cell number. His MTN number was off.

Still placing calls, we also gathered from one industry person (preferred to remain anonymous) that Mr. Odoi was diagnosed of appendicitis; a disease he has lived with all these years but his doctors never detected until this time round when the disease ‘struck’ him hard and had to be rushed to the hospital.

Our source also disclosed that Mr. Odoi has gone through a successful surgical operation but still, his health condition is not promising due to the longevity with which the disease has stayed in his body; notwithstanding the fact that he’s advanced in age.

GhanaCelebrities.Com is by this publication calling on all Ghanaians and well wishers to watch and pray fervently for Mr. Samuel Odoi Mensah who has held the office of the guild for over 10 years now and is now making strides to salvage the bad image of the guild.

GHANA MUSIC AWARDS 2014 'NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR' TO WIN BRAND NEW CAR

The Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) has announced that the winner of this year’s Ghana Music Awards for Discovery/New Artist of The Year will walk away with a brand new car.

This is the second time that MUSIGA is partnering with the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards to present a car to award winners. Last year, the car was given to the Artist of the Year winner, R2bees.

The President of the union, Osei Bice Kuffuor alias Obuor, announced during the unveiling of the 2014 VGMA nominations over the weekend, that the decision to give the car to the new artist of the year was to encourage new talents.

The nominees for New Artist/ Discovery of the Year are Joey B, Akwaboah and Kumi Guitar