Joshua Iniyezo also known as SolidStar, is a Nigerian songwriter, singer and recording artiste renowned for his hit singles “ Skibo”, “ My body” ft Timaya, “ One in a million ft Tuface”, “ Omotena”, Super Eagles, Wait ft Davido, Baby Jollof and Wait remix ft Tiwa savage and Patoranking.
The singer shot to fame in 2010 with the release of the single “One in a million“ feat. 2face idibia”. The video was directed by Clarence Peters and won Solidstar the best new artiste at the Nigerian Music Video awards that same year .
He signed a deal with Achievas Music, a record label headed by entertainment and business mogul, Paul Cole Chiori aka Ossy Achieveas in 2009. Ossy Achievas is the brain behind Olamide’s OLIC show, Davido 30BG Concert 2017, Burna Boy live 2018 and other major live shows in Nigeria.
Under the label, Solidstar dropped the albums “One In A Million” in 2010, Grace & Glory album in 2013 and WEED (Witness Everything Exceptionally Different) in 2016. The albums produced hits like Oluchi ft. Flavour, Skibo, Omotena, My Body, One In A Million ft. 2face, Emergency, Wait Refix ft. Tiwa Savage and Patoranking and Nwa baby ft. 2face.
His single with Tiwa Savage and Patoranking has over 9.8 million views on YouTube, My body with Timaya has over 4.8 million views, Oluchi with flavour has over 3 million views, Wait ft. Davido has over 1 million views, etc., while his other videos have also massed considerable views across platforms.
His catalogue has amassed over 20 million streams across all platforms with over 60 thousand monthly listeners on Spotify alone.
In 2017, after almost 10 years with the label, he made a post that he has amicably left the label to pursue establish his own label called Shabba Entertainment. He made the announcement on his Instagram page and thanked the label and the label boss for their help and contributions to his career.
The record label responded and confirmed that they have parted ways amicably with the singer. They also informed the public that works recorded while Solidstar was with the label remains and belongs to the label. The artiste would go ahead to flaunt his new label “Shabba Entertainment“ and even sign a new artiste called Jojo.
However, 3 years after the supposed amicable settlement, Solidstar came on Instagram page to accuse his former record label boss of cheating him of his hard earned money and wanting to see him sad.
See post below…
The Label boss , Ossy Achievas then responded…
Solid Star then responded to his former label boss via a social media post…
Not so long after, Solidstar still made cryptic posts of being cheated and laboring for years without any tangible return even after making over 200 million for the label…
He eventually burnt his contract with the record label after the back and forth.
It is important that artistes and creatives seek expert opinion while signing these record deals.
The issue of royalties generated could have been resolved if there was an auditing provision or financial statements provision that allowed the artiste to access financial statements of the label and his corresponding royalties quarterly.
We hope creatives learn from this.
