The first verse of Richard Marx's pop hit, Endless Summer Nights, hits at the spirit, harder than a bar of soap in a pillow fight!
"Summer came and left without a warning
All at once, I looked and you were gone
And now you're looking back at me
Searching for a way that we can be like we were before......"
It's hard to figure out if it's the strumming guitar, the reflective lyrics or the haunting vocals. It's a poor pick on Karaoke night. It's a tentative pick for the shower mic sessions - in the teary throes of a ripping heartbreak.
A heartbreak didn't much care for good vocals. We'd play it on loop, and cry our hearts out. Speaking of vocals.... there's a big shortage of good vocalists in Kenya!
And, it's for a reason; Kenya teems with artists and runs short on musicians. An artist does odd gigs, an event perhaps, the occasional hit; to pay the bills.
A musician chases the passion; lots of the time he or she depends on a different job for the bills. Lots of the time he or she plays for free.
To be or not to be, that's the question. If such a dream exists, beware. It's not a walk in the park being a career artist or musician. It's more than singing in the shower, strumming a few chords or holding a steady beat on a kit.
Sammy Chizi, one of Kenya's most prolific vocalists has been on a rollercoaster of hard life lessons, served raw - over a long decade.
Sammy has enjoyed the limelight.
The heady highs from a meteoritic rise from a street boy to a star vocalist. He even built the group - Machizi. A string of hits by this group ruled the airwaves.
One of Sammy Chizi's most memorable hits? Wifey. Yes, Wifey. Search it.
Showbiz loved Sammy Chizi. On weekends, he'd be hobnobbing with the industry's Creme de la Creme in high-end city joints. He'd be sampling expensive champagne and Cuban cigars. Life was good.
Sammy lived for the perks of a local celebrity - a generous share of groupies and hangers-on.
In plain-speak, that's a hefty cheque at the club every evening.
At some point, Sammy met and married a white lady - and had a good thing for close to a decade. All this took a toll on Sammy Chizi's music, or so it seems. The flow of music stopped. Gig call ups dwindled and eventually stopped. He was in a slump.
The last nail on Sammy's career casket was when his wife chose to end the relationship, and abandoned him in Ongata Rongai. The sun literally dimmed for Sammy; he sank into depression. He's since then toyed with suicidal thoughts and attempts.
Sammy Chizi had missed a few lessons that should come with celebrity status.
In showbiz, think of it as a business.
First focus on your skills, your dreams and your goals. Ignore everything else - fans, groupies, admirers, funkies, et al. All the perks of showbiz come easy, pretty much on their own because that's the stuff everyone sees, and wrongly believe that's all there is to it.
Nope. They are wrong. It's the surface.
What makes it happen: the “guts and gonads" that you don’t see, is the business. In this aspect, it's not business in terms of thousands of shillings. It's whether an artist has a grasp of how business works - any business.
If one doesn't, he'll be taken and used by the minions of the industry.
Can you hitch a ride with a stranger? Of course not. But, if you are blinded, or drunk, with popularity, accolades, sweet talk, VIP spots at fancy parties, then you'd be more easily swayed to take the ride.
It's a similar case with 'success' in your singing career. Don't wait for the surface stuff to happen before you 'get serious' with the business side of it. Don't be deceived by the surface stuff.
If Sammy Chizi hadn't made business-related errors of judgment and got tossed from the industry, he'd probably be at the same level as Otile Brown, Mayonde, Nikki or Nikita Kering.
Presently, to give credit where it's due, Sam Chizi is trying to re-build his life. He's attended therapy to ditch depression. Sammy doesn't beg; he does odd, menial jobs around construction sites in Ongata Rongai to sustain himself. He's still, basically, the Sam Chizi his fans knew.
Sam Chizi's one dream is to get studio time for another shot at doing what he does best - sing.
