Segun Arinze: From Aina To Arinze - A Life Of Artistic Triumphs

A Multi-Talented Veteran in Nollywood and Beyond
A Name Change That Stuck After a Serendipitous Mix-Up
From Voice-Over Beginnings to Musical Dreams and Acting Glory

Eko Hot Blog reports that in a recent interview, Segun Arinze the 58-year-old veteran shed light on his humble beginnings, including a fateful name change that stuck after a serendipitous mix-up.

Originally named Segun Aina, Arinze revealed how a simple mistake during a performance in 1991 led to his now-iconic stage name.

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“I was also singing. In 1991, I was told someone wanted to sign me… He came from Sony Music. So he called me and I signed the contract. He signed. And then he said ‘Okay we are going to start recording,'” Arinze recounted.

However, fate had other plans. “Went to Ife to do Dramatic Arts. My dad did not like the idea because he wanted me to be a lawyer. At a point in time, I thought he was not going to pay my school fees to go and read drama,” he added.

It was at the National Theatre’s open theater that the name change occurred. “Then the National Theatre was running an open theatre then… ‘welcome new artiste Segun Arinze’. I said ‘excuse me sir what is this? I said why are you changing my name? The album came out – ‘Dreams’. Everywhere was ‘Segun Arinze, Segun Arinze. That was how the name got changed from Segun Aina to Segun Arinze in a nutshell.”

Before his acting and music endeavors, Arinze’s journey began with a modest voice-over gig in 1987, where he earned a meager N1,000 – a substantial sum at the time. “Soni Irabor walks in someday and he was looking for voice-over artiste. There was nobody around that day then he heard me speak,” Arinze recounted. “Then he said ‘You can do the voice’ Really? I cannot, he said ‘Yes, you can and I will see what you do’. And I did the voice-over. He paid me N1000. That was 1987. N1000 for just doing (voice-over). I said this is big. Coloured TV was N500 at that time.”