I was paid with a bottle of drink for movie soundtrack – Stanley Okorie

Stanley Okorie, a legendary Nollywood soundtrack star and singer, has revealed that he was paid with a bottle of Sprite for the first movie soundtrack he sang.

He revealed this while appearing as a guest on the latest episode of Wonu Osikoya’s audiovisual podcast, Osikoya Speaks.

According to the veteran, Nollywood was underfunded when he first entered the industry.

Okorie said, “The first soundtrack I ever did, guess what I was paid? I was paid a bottle of Spirit. And it was three songs. And I didn’t drink the Spirit alone, I drank it with one guy called JT Tom West. So, it was still half payment even with the bottle of Sprite.

“The guy [filmmaker] said he was even doing me a favour. I just did. In fact, one of the times I saw him, he told me that they didn’t use the music again. A month after, I watched the film and it was the music.

“So, I went to meet him with JT Tom West who is late now, and he said okay, he will connect us with somebody who will give me a job. And the very first job I got payment for was a film called ‘Compromise’, and from that, other films followed.

“The next film I got big pay for was a film called ‘Evil Genius’. That was my statement of ‘I don come’. There wasn’t money until much later when I started charging [filmmakers].”