Ebony’s meteoric rise to fame although riddled with controversy was one for the books and many Ghanaians are often led to wonder what would have been if the Kupe crooner was still alive.
Ebony Reigns came into Ghanaian music at a time when female artistes like MzVee and Adina were releasing hits upon hits and putting the industry on notice.
This young energetic lady was the icing on the cake for the resurgence of female artistes into the mainstream. Ebony’s marketability, appeal, smile, fashion sense, and relatability had not been seen since the heyday of Akosua Agyapong. Her sultry raspy voice and catchy adlibs with a background of catchy dance hall beat made Ebony a regular feature on our radios, TVs, stages, and hall weeks. Students trooped to hear Ebony sing, and
if they were lucky be called on stage for a free lap dance from Ghana’s very own Rihanna. She knew how to keep Ghana singing, whether a sing-along song or a club banger, our 90s bahd gyal had jams for days. With the rise of Tems, Ayra Starr, and Fave, many Ghanaians wonder which of our female artists can match up to them boot for boot, and the only right answer would have been Ebony if she had lived. There’s currently an ongoing debate on which Ghanaian artiste is most likely to win a grammy, and the only correct answer would have been Ebony.
Ebony had a pizzazz that many African female artistes lacked. I’m sure if she had lived, she would have been on Beyonce’s gift album and would have leveraged the hype. Ebony would have been too big, infact way too big to be contained by our industry, and would have been on her way to being a global superstar or would have already been one.
She would have worked with the creme de la creme of the African music industry. She would have been our female version of Burna Boy with unparalleled stagecraft.
Ebony’s presence was short-lived but our queen gave us hits that are evergreen till this day and I dare say can comfortably win her a versus if one is ever done for her against any of the contemporary artists. We might be blessed to witness another female with her level of energy, appeal, smile, and face, but we will never witness someone as remotely iconic as our 90s bahd gyal. I for one miss listening to her voice and watching her own the stage.
Author-Ahanta Bred
