“How my name ‘changed’ to Segun Arinze” – Actor opens up
Veteran Nollywood actor Segun Arinze revealed that his birth name is Segun Aina and recounted the origin of his stage name.
During a recent conversation with Biola Bayo on the ‘TalktoB’ podcast, the 58-year-old actor shared that he adopted the name Segun Arinze when he ventured into music.
He clarified that although he was born Segun Aina, the alias ‘Segun Arinze’ stuck with him after being mistakenly introduced as such at a concert in 1991.
He said: “I was also singing. In 1991, I was told someone wanted to sign me. ‘We are going to sign you on’. He came from Sony Music. So he called me and I signed the contract. He signed. And then he said ‘Okay we are going to start recording.’
“I went to Ife to do Dramatic Arts. My dad did not like the idea because he wanted me to be a lawyer. At a point in time, I thought he was not going to pay my school fees to go and read drama.
“Then the National Theatre was running an open theatre then… ‘welcome new artiste Segun Arinze’. I said ‘Excuse me sir what is this? I said why are you changing my name? The album came out – ‘Dreams’. Everywhere was ‘Segun Arinze, Segun Arinze. That was how the name got changed from Segun Aina to Segun Arinze in a nutshell.”
