Veteran singer and national award recipient, Ebenezer Obey-Fabiyi, has revealed that his mother never believed he could become successful through music.

Fondly referred to as Chief Commander, the legendary singer, while speaking in an interview, noted that his mother wanted him to become either a lawyer or doctor.

Obey said, “She did not want me to play music because she wanted me to be a successful person in life. As for my mother, she did not believe that it could happen through music. She wanted me to be either a lawyer or a doctor. She thought my success would come through either being a lawyer or a doctor. She would wake me up at midnight, praise me, and then ask me to listen to her advice. She would tell me to stop beating drums about.

“She would say, ‘don’t you want to be a successful person? If you face your studies and become a lawyer, they would be calling me Iya Lawyer’. She would ask if I would not like to drive a pleasure car. I will respond that I will like to ride a pleasure car. My mother did not know and I could not blame her. But finally, when she saw that it was music I wanted to do, she let me be.”

He explained that his mother’s fear stemmed from the fact that she believed all musicians were alcoholics and smokers. Obey said when his mother revealed her fears to him, he promised her that he would be a good example as a musician.

Obey said, “One day, I was bold enough to ask my mother why she did not want me to be a musician. Then she told me that musicians smoke cigarette, Indian hemp, and they are drunkards. She said that she did not give birth to a drunkard or Indian hemp smoker.

“I thank God that my mother did that to me because I promised that if those were the reasons she did not want me to become a musician, I will go into music and I will be a good example. It was a good warning because everything that my mother said, I met them when I started music; however, I always remembered my mother’s words.

“By the grace of God, I thank God that I promised my mother that I would be a good example and I have been a good example.”

The veteran singer further stated that his mother witnessed his success before she died at the age of 97 in 1995.

“My mother was alive to see part of my success. My mother went to be with the Lord in the year 1995. She saw my success and she was very happy that her dream for me to be a successful person came through, even though it was not being through a doctor or a lawyer, as she wanted me to be; but she was a happy mother.

“She knew that my name was all over the world. She knew that I had taken my music to almost all the parts of the world. She was a proud mother. She was very happy. She died at the age of 97. She was fulfilled before she went to meet the Lord.”

Renowned artist Bjorn Ulvaeus behind disco pop group ABBA with megahits like “Dancing Queen” and “Mamma Mia” co-wrote a report entitled “Rebalancing The Song Economy,” which urges revamping pricing structures to ensure fairness for writers behind the music.

Ulvaeus, 75, became president of the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) — a Paris-headquartered rights network representing some four million creators and publishers across the arts — last year.

Pre-pandemic, performing artists could count on income sources like concerts and merchandise, but “most professional songwriters are just that” — songwriters, he said.

Now everyone is relying on streaming, which accounts for 83 percent of US music industry revenue, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.

But many artists have long said they aren’t reaping the benefits.

Streaming giants pool subscription money and divvy it up based on aggregate play counts to rights-holders or management organizations, who distribute it according to their agreements.

Artists have long disparaged that dominant model, holding it favors the globe’s biggest stars at the expense of music’s middle class.

Ulvaeus said, Apple recently disclosed it pays, on average, a penny per stream, approximately double what Spotify — which has far more users and thus more streams — pays rights-holders.

The breakdowns of which players — labels, distributors, streaming services, and the owners of performance and publishing copyrights — receive what fraction of revenues depends on specific record deals that are rarely public. But songwriters, especially if they are not also performers, generally receive the smallest pieces.

This year, the Oscars will feature a best picture contender about a drummer with hearing loss, a nominated documentary exploring a hippie camp for disabled youths, and a nod for the first film ever to star a deafblind actor.

It’s a step forward for disability representation in Hollywood, nominated filmmakers said but one that must be built on to prevent progress slipping away from screens yet again.

Until now, Tinseltown producers “haven’t done a very good job — but they know that, we’re making them aware of that,” said “Sound of Metal” supporting actor nominee Paul Raci, who was raised by deaf parents.

“I’m one of the guys who has got to be in the forefront of not dropping the ball… keeping them aware of all the deaf artists that we have, all the disabled artists, all the genius that’s out there, all the untold stories,” Raci said in an interview.

The wariness is understandable. This is a road Hollywood has attempted to travel down before.

In 1948, Jane Wyman, a hearing actress, won an Oscar for playing a deaf-mute woman in “Johnny Belinda” — a miscasting Raci likens to “nails on a chalkboard.”

Director of the Oscar-nominated short film “Feeling Through”, Doug Roland is able-bodied, but his short film was inspired by a late-night encounter he had with a deafblind man who needed help crossing a New York street.

He cast first-time actor Robert Tarango, the first deafblind person with a leading role in any movie, according to filmmakers. The film is now on an Oscar shortlist of five.

“That conversation has really started to shift in a very significant way to the disability community, and there’s louder voices being heard,” said Roland.

The historical drama Downton Abbey is set to return to the big screen this Christmas, it has been announced.

The original ITV series ran for six series before it was turned into a feature film in 2019, starring Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern.

It saw the central Crawley family and Downton staff receive a royal visit.

The film-makers said they were “thrilled” to welcome back the entire cast, plus fresh stars such as Hugh Dancy, Laura Haddock and Dominic West.

Downton creator Julian Fellowes will return to write the screenplay for the film, which will be released in UK cinemas on 22 December.

Set on a fictional Yorkshire country estate in the early part of the 20th Century, Downton Abbey depicts the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their domestic servants.

The TV series was showered with awards from Bafta, the Emmys and the Golden Globes.