Singer Oludipe Oluwasanmi David, popularly known as Spyro, has recently shared a disturbing experience with music executive Ubi Franklin during an interview on the Echo Room podcast. Spyro revealed that Ubi convinced him to perform at a birthday party for $5,000, claiming the request came directly from music superstar Davido. Despite Spyro’s usual fee being N20 million, he agreed to perform, only to later discover that Davido had no knowledge of the arrangement. Spyro called it a “broad daylight scam.”
Recalling the incident, Spyro explained, “Davido was supposed to perform at Iyanya’s birthday, and Ubi told me Davido wanted us to perform as well, with $5,000 as payment for each of us. When I raised concerns, I mentioned that I don’t charge less than N20 million for a performance. However, I couldn’t decline when I saw the dignitaries present at the event.” Spyro added that after the performance, he tried to sort out the payment issue with Ubi.
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Meanwhile, Paul Okoye, also known as PaulO, a former label owner and show promoter for Spyro, entered the fray, addressing accusations from the singer regarding his time at the label. Spyro had previously claimed that he earned no money during his two years with the label and had to borrow from PaulO, despite describing him as a kind person. However, PaulO provided a spreadsheet showing that he spent N12 million on Spyro while signed to the label, but received no returns on his investment.
Spyro responded, further detailing his experiences and suggesting that PaulO’s lack of management knowledge, coupled with his frequent absences, led to poor treatment and mismanagement of the label. He shared a particularly painful memory of being left stranded during a trip to London for the One Africa event at Wembley, where he was chased out of his hotel room, left without food, and had to rely on others for support.
This public exchange of accusations between Spyro, Ubi Franklin, and Paul Okoye has sparked a heated debate within the music industry, as questions regarding transparency, professionalism, and fair treatment continue to surface.
