On Sunday April 24, 2016, popular Congolese musician Papa Wemba slumped and died shortly after collapsing on stage during a performance at the Festival des Musiques Urbaines d’Anoumabo (FEMUA) held in Ivory Coast. Wemba was alleged to have suffered a heart attack while performing which eventually led to his untimely death, a situation that would have been averted if there had been professional medical personnel on ground. Wemba died before he got to the nearest hospital. Mavin Records grandpa, Collins Enebeli, Don Jazzy’s father has some words of advice for Nigerian artists and artists across the globe. he dropped his advice on his Facebook timeline. “The sad news of the death of Papa Wemba is a wakeup call for artists and their managers to see reason why promoters and event organisers need the services of healthcare service providers for artists while on engagement for their events to avoid preventable fatalities as this. Most artists due to their busy schedules are known not to be paying enough attention to their health and listening to their bodies which may have been under pressure and stretched to breaking point without them knowing it. Artiste managers need to insist that the services of a trained health personnel who specialises in handling celebrities is factored into their performance contract to ensure that artists are well monitored and looked after when on professional engagement anywhere in the world. That way, risks such as this will be detected early enough and efforts made to seek help before it is too late. In the past, the king of soul music James Brown died while on a series of shows lined up for him. The same thing happened to the king of pop Michael Jackson who died while also under pressure from preparations for his mother of all shows ‘This is it’. We are yet to recover from the shocking news of the demise of the purple rain crooner Prince earlier last week and now it is our own dear Papa Wemba.
On Sunday April 24, 2016, popular Congolese musician Papa Wemba slumped and died shortly after collapsing on stage during a performance at the Festival des Musiques Urbaines d’Anoumabo (FEMUA) held in Ivory Coast. Wemba was alleged to have suffered a heart attack while performing which eventually led to his untimely death, a situation that would have been averted if there had been professional medical personnel on ground. Wemba died before he got to the nearest hospital. Mavin Records grandpa, Collins Enebeli, Don Jazzy’s father has some words of advice for Nigerian artists and artists across the globe. he dropped his advice on his Facebook timeline. “The sad news of the death of Papa Wemba is a wakeup call for artists and their managers to see reason why promoters and event organisers need the services of healthcare service providers for artists while on engagement for their events to avoid preventable fatalities as this. Most artists due to their busy schedules are known not to be paying enough attention to their health and listening to their bodies which may have been under pressure and stretched to breaking point without them knowing it. Artiste managers need to insist that the services of a trained health personnel who specialises in handling celebrities is factored into their performance contract to ensure that artists are well monitored and looked after when on professional engagement anywhere in the world. That way, risks such as this will be detected early enough and efforts made to seek help before it is too late. In the past, the king of soul music James Brown died while on a series of shows lined up for him. The same thing happened to the king of pop Michael Jackson who died while also under pressure from preparations for his mother of all shows ‘This is it’. We are yet to recover from the shocking news of the demise of the purple rain crooner Prince earlier last week and now it is our own dear Papa Wemba.
