Segun Arinze, a veteran Nollywood star, has disclosed that his real name is Segun Aina and explained how he became known as Arinze.
In a recent interview with Biola Bayo on the ‘TalktoB’ podcast, the 58-year-old actor said that he used the stage name Segun Arinze while pursuing a musical career. According to him, he was born Segun Aina, but the stage moniker ‘Segun Arinze’ stayed with him after he was accidentally introduced as such during a 1991 concert.
He said: “I was also singing. In 1991, I was told someone wanted to sign me. ‘We are going to sign you on’. 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.’ “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. “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.” Speaking further, Arinze revealed how he met Soni Irabor and got paid N1,000 for his first job as a voice-over artiste in 1987.
“Soni Irabor walked in someday, and he was looking for a voice-over artist. There was nobody around that day, then he heard me speak,” he said. 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. Colored TV was N500 at that time,” Arinze narrated.
