The late Ebony reigned as the Artiste of the Year for two consecutive years, becoming the first artiste to do so as far as the prestigious Vodafone Ghana Music Awards is concerned.
Her reign, however, coincided with a stroke of luck after the brawl between Stonebwoy and Shatta Wale which brought the 2019 edition of the award ceremony to an abrupt end, a situation which made her maintain her status as the Artiste of The Year. Having worked hard the previous year and dominated the local charts with several hit songs, music fans and connoisseurs predicted that Ebony will scoop all the awards at the 2018 VGMAs.
Unfortunately, the exuberant artiste, born Priscilla Opoku-Kwarteng met her untimely death on February 8, 2020, after being involved in a fatal car crash. She died on the spot together with her very good friend, Franky Kuri, and her military bodyguard who were both travelling with her from the Brong Ahafo Region.
The mood that shrouded the award scheme that year was sober and solemn. She emerged the Artiste of the Year just like it has been predicted even before her death. Her provocative song, Maame Hwe also scooped Songwriter of the Year award for Bullet, her manager who penned that song for her.
Her reign should have ended a year later during the 2019 edition of the award scheme. Kuame Eugene was highly tipped to emerge the overall best award which is the Artiste of the Year. However, disaster struck when Shatta Wale and Stonebwoy, the frontrunners of Dancehall music in Ghana took their age-long beef to a new level.
We all know what transpired on that fateful night so we don’t need to delve much into it. That infamous incident has a huge bearing on the subject of this article. Kuame Eugene would have emerged the best on the night but that category was annulled.
‘Everyone was behind me to win Artiste of the Year last year but that did not happen due to two individuals who had their own issues. I should have won that award but because of the two artists who had their own issues everyone else has to go home because of them. I will not sit here and lie that I was not hurt. I was hurt and highly disappointed in whatever happened that night,’ Kuame Eugene told Hitz FM in an interview after a lot of Ghanaians said he doesn’t deserve what he took this year.
On that same wavelength, Kuame Eugene never deserved the Artiste of the Year he won at the just ended 2020 edition of the VGMAs and that’s why Ebony won’t be happy in her grave. Kofi Kinaata probably deserves it more, having put more energy into his works under the year in review. Perhaps Ebony should have still maintained the award for three years in a row if the VGMA board couldn’t find any worthy person to succeed her.
Although Kuame Eugene offered a feeble defense as to why he deserves the award, we all know it doesn’t hold water. He said; ‘I disagree with anyone who says I don’t deserve the Artiste of the Year award. I deserve it 100 per cent. Why would I be in the category if I didn’t deserve it? Would anyone have said Kofi Kinaata or Sarkodie did not deserve it if they had won. Ghanaians should stop it. Anyway, everyone is entitled to their opinion and have the right to express it but I am not bothered by that,’ he added.
SOURCE: www.Ghgossip.com
