The governor of Osun state, Ademola Adeleke, claims that his father stopped him from pursuing his first dream of being a singer.
The politician, known affectionately as the “dancing governor,” revealed in a recent AriseTV interview that his early desire was to become a singer.
Adeleke acknowledged that he had a musical gift and added that he has given it to both his son, B-Red, and nephew, Davido.
The 63-year-old governor went on to say that he would “just start dancing without knowing it” since he loves music so much.
“I was supposed to be a musician right away. But my father, when we were growing up in the sixties, did not allow it,” he said.
“They did not believe that somebody should go and do music. They just wanted you to go to school. So he discouraged me. But I know that I have that talent.
“It is the talent I passed on to my nephew and my son. If you play music now, I don’t know how I would just start dancing. My body would just start moving without knowing it.
“I got to America in 1981. The name of my school at that time in Alabama was Jacksonville State University. It was in the countryside.
“At that time, the school was having its anniversary, and a lot of activities were happening there. So I picked the dancing part and we got to the finals. To cut a long story short, I won.
“I remember vividly, the president of our school was trying to pronounce my name – Ademola Adeleke – he called me Jackson. And at that time Michael Jackson was reigning. So that was how I got the name Jackson.”
B-Red, the governor’s son, had previously recounted how his parents did not initially support his music aspirations.
“Before we started music, my parents did not help us with music for the first two to three years,” he had said.