GEORGE DARKO WANTED ME DEAD-HIGHLIFE ARTISTE SPEAKS

Veteran highlife artiste, Lee Dodou was on
Happy FM’s ShowBiz Xtra with Dr Cann to talk
about his long career in music and life in the
diaspora.
The 62-year-old highlifer talking about taking
care of himself and looking young revealed;
“I exercise a lot, I don’t drink but I smoke and
it’s good for me. Many people smoke and even
my father smoked and still lived till 90 years.
I’m not saying everyone should go and smoke
but it works for me. And I'm not talking about
any other smoke, I'm referring to cigarettes.”
On why he smoked, the Akwankwa hitmaker
revealed:
“During our time, I kept reading magazine and
there was this group called Smokey Boys
including Joe Coker, and I understand that he
was an alcoholic, and many of the best singers
of that time were either smoking or drinking but
they train after doing this. And it gave them a
unique voice.”
As one of the pioneers of Burger Highlife, it was
shocking the singer said he wouldn’t allow his
children to dabble their hands into music
because it never made him rich.
“I wouldn’t want my children to pursue music
because I haven’t benefitted in music. It didn’t
make me rich."
In answering Dr Cann’s question on why he never
got rich singing all the classics, the Kantata
Band leader alleged:
“Maybe it would have been better if I had not
had my problems with the people I worked with
during my peak.
"Because I had my moment – My breakthrough
came but George Darko cut it short. I went
through things so painful I don’t even want to
talk about it. Even to the extent my life was
threatened.
And that’s one of the main reasons why I didn’t
want to come to Ghana anymore.
“I was nearly even murdered in the 80’s. If you
remember, there was a story about Lee Dodou
and Kantata Band in 89 and we lost one of our
guys mysteriously. It was catastrophic.
The Akpeteshie singer also revealed he was once
in the same group with George Darko but after
the group broke up, George Darko started
picking on him because he was behind a lot of
their creative works and so George felt
threatened by his presence in the music scene.
“I was doing a lot of the singing too during our
time in the group George Darko and the Bus Stop
but because he was leader of the group, he took
all the glory and he wanted it to stay like that.
So he wanted me dead.
“When we made Akoo Te Brofo for instance; we
were seven guys. George [Darko], Me,
Sometimer, Jagger, Akoo, Bob Fishian, Stephen
Mends. And it was George Darko who sang it. I
brought that idea because at that time it was
Cool and the Gang era with James Taylor as the
singer.
But George Cool was the leader of the band and
it was me who brought that idea that we should
go the Cool and The Gang way and so we did
George Darko and the Bus Stop. And when the
problems started I didn’t leave the group, it was
George Darko who left and everyone followed. So
I didn’t understand why I became the target.
So why George targeted me out of all the group
is something I still wonder about.”