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Talks About Her Success Story
The Queen of Gospel Music, Tope Alabi is a celebrated Music Minister who has been rocking the Gospel music scene for decades. And she has made considerable progress. Her rise has been remarkable and she has released many hit songs that have topped the charts. She doesn’t just sing, she takes part in many concerts and headlines revival programmes.
She also performs at many church programmes and gets called to appear at birthday parties just for a few minutes. And she is paid handsomely. She has paid her dues. She has been at it for years.
And she is not resting on her oars. She keeps changing the game. She keeps stepping up, all the time.
Many don’t know that Tope Alabi is an indigene of Yewa in Ogun State. She was born on 27th October, 1970 into the family of Pa Joseph Akinyele and Madam Agnes Kehinde Obayomi.
After studying Mass Communication at The Polytechnic Ibadan. She became exposed to the acting profession and was involved in various film productions. Her talent in Music gave her the privilege of becoming one of Nigeria’s frontliners in Movie soundtracks. In the Yoruba movie genre alone, she has made more than 1,000 soundtracks and signature-tunes.
Her full name is Patricia Temitope Alabi and she had a divine calling into the Singing Ministry in Year 2000 with ‘Oore ti O Common’ as a debut album which shot her into limelight. To her credits are some albums including ‘Oore ti o Common’ ‘Certificate’, ‘Agbara Olorun and Agbara Re Ni’, ‘Kokoro Igbala’, ‘Angeli Mi’, ‘Mori’Yanu’, ‘Agbelebu’, ‘Alagbara’, ‘Oruko Tuntun’, a Compilation of Sound Tracks from the archives of Tope Alabi, ‘Yes And Amen’, ‘Igbowo Eda’ and her most recent project ‘Oluwa Ni’, a collection of spontaneous worship songs that have been blessing lives with numerous testimonies.
Beyond this is the outstanding and astounding achievement of releasing a hymnal which happens to be the first compendium of hymns in our generation. This is to align the new generation that seems to be forgetting the essence of hymns with originally composed hymns by Tope Alabi. Hence, the preaching of the Gospel through fresh songs, to the glory of God, has taken her to several countries across the world.
One of Tope Alabi’s strengths lies in her spontaneous creativity. She is usually inspired for new songs anytime she worships God. An example is the 16 track album titled THE SPIRIT OF LIGHT which was done in conjunction with Ty Bello. LOGAN TI O DE, one of the tracks is a song of hope and faith that made lots of waves and empowered millions of people all over the world.
Today, Tope Alabi, alongside her handsome husband, Soji (who is also her Producer and Manager) runs a registered organisation in Nigeria named the MARDEBRA COMFORTER FOUNDATION which caters for the less-privileged, their music label GOSPEL VIBES and also hosts an annual event tagged PRAISE THE ALMIGHTY CONCERT every 3rd Sunday of February in Lagos with multitudes of worshippers attending to honour the King of Kings.
She has done collaborations with other music stars like Ty Bello, Nathaniel Bassy, Tim Godfrey, Eben, Steve Crown, Gaise Baba, Chris Mogan, Paul Tomisin, Psalmos, Jay Clef, Ayomiku Alabi and many more
A few days ago, she performed at a birthday party for a couple. It was a special appearance at the party held at Radisson Blu It was her husband who first walked in with 3 of their bandboys to prepare the grounds for her grand entrance. He held a brief tete-a-tete discussion with the band that was performing and they agreed on the way to go. A few minutes after, Tope Alabi walked in, looking angelic in a flowing dress with her new headgear that she wears to events these days.
Once she walked in, she collected the microphone, greeted the 2 celebrants, the traditional rulers in attendance and saluted all the guests. Then, she went straight into her performance. One after the other she began to sing all her evergreen songs. And in less than 1hour she serenaded the celebrants and guests with about 9 popular songs, back-to-back
Immediately she began, all the about 250 gaily dressed guests (male & female) jumped up and began to dance and sang along. The atmosphere was electrifying. She changed the mood of the hall. It was smiles all the way, as the small hall erupted in hapiness as Tope Alabi ministered to them with her songs.
After singing for about an hour, she stopped and the audience was yearning for more. Give us more! Give us more! She then sang a special number for Mummy and Daddy. It was after this that she took a bow and went for refreshments along with her multi-talented husband, who is the Manager of the band, keyboardist and overall leader of the band. He is usually in control. And he has a way of getting things done correctly.
A few days after the show, City People asked her what she has done to her music and stage craft that has made it all the more delicious. She smiled. “It is Grace. It is the Grace of God. I can’t really say this is what I do, or this is what I don’t do, that has helped.”
“Once I take up the mic, the music will flow and I can go on and on for 5 hours. It is a gift from God.
Even my voice is a gift from God.
It is her birthday on the 27th October, 2024 and she is marking it with a Total Worship Concert tagged Believe. She is taking it down to Ibadan. The event will hold at the Student Union Building, Old Sports Complex at the University of Ibadan. The concert is being packaged by the Tope Alabi Gospel Vibes Ltd.
“After my 50th birthday, I decided to start praising God every year, for what he has done in my life and what he has done in the Ministry that he has given to me. He has been wonderful to me. There is no doubt about that. I think everybody knows that.”
“Thank you Jesus. So, I decided to begin to praise God, every year, every October 27th, I believe its a time to call people to the kingdom.”
“Its a time to let people see the light of God the more and make sure that they become the light themselves. I can call it Altar Call Time. That is, the time to make people come to God, to give their lives to Christ and submit everything that they have to Christ, so that he can make them the Light. And the Bible says Let Your Light So Shine, so that your father in heaven will be glorified. And that is why I do this every year. This year I will be going to the University of Ibadan to Praise God, to call people, to bring people together to praise God. And then to win Souls for Christ. Next year, wherever God asks me to go, I will go”.
Recently she did 7 hours Praise for Bishop Oyedepo when he clocked 70. Why did she do that? Why did she feature her daughter, Ayo Alabi? “Oh yes. I did 7 Hours Praise for Bishop Oyedepo. I didn’t do it for Bishop Oyedepo, I praised God, on behalf of Bishop Oyedepo at 70. I did 7 Hours Praise. So, 1 hour stands for I decade of his life. I don’t believe I have done enough. I did not do what I really wanted to do because if I had the time, if I really had more time, I would have done more. I was ministered to by the Holy Spirit to do something for my father. If I had the power, I would have done 70 hours praise. I believe that 7 hours Praise is okay to just celebrate my father in the Lord. He has been so wonderful to me. Bishop David Oyedepo is a loving father and a disciplinarian. He is a man who will talk God into your head at every time, every given time. It is a huge privilege to have him as my father. Thank you Jesus for his life and for the Ministry that God has given to him, together with all the Living Faith Member, (Winners Chapel) we all came together to just say thank you to Jesus.
“There was a Single I did for that same 70th birthday also tagged God’s Servant at 70. But its not enough Ko ti po tooo. He is a wonderful man of God. I am a testimony to that. I can testify to that anywhere. Glory Be To God”.
“You asked me why I featured Ayo Alabi in the Praise. Ayo is a Music Minister also. She is my daughter. And that is her grandpa. She ought to be there.
“All the Ministers there, are my children. They are my Kings and Queens. So they must be there. Oba ni gbogbo nwon. And they must be at the birthday of Baba Oba”.
Whenever she is going for a show, how does she decide what specific songs to sing? Does she rehearse? Does she compose songs for events? “Oh, that is God. It’s God’s work. I am always inspired by God. Whenever I want to go for ministration, whatever God asks me to do is what I do. And that is why you see new things every time. The Bible says God is new every morning. Glory be to God. Its a privilege which I do not take for granted”.
–Seye Kehinde
