Patti Boulaye

Early life

Boulaye was born after her mother went into labour in a taxi that was passing through two towns in Mid-Western Nigeria, and was raised in a strict Catholic household with nine children, including airline pilot Tony Ebigwei who was killed in the Nigerian Airways plane crash of 1978. As a teenager, Boulaye survived the Biafran war, and attributes this to her strong faith.

At sixteen, she left Nigeria for the United Kingdom where she decided to become a nun, but during a sightseeing trip in London, Boulaye stood in a queue for what she assumed was Madame Tussauds, but turned out to be an audition for the original London production of Hair, and soon won a part which launched her career in musicals. Her father, who did not approve of showbusiness disowned his daughter, but later forgave her.

Stage

After Hair, she featured in Two Gentlemen of Verona, but landed her first starring role as Yum Yum in The Black Mikado under her birth name Patricia Ebigwei. Critic Tony Lane wrote: "Patricia Ebigwei's version of 'The Sun whose rays...' is, in the words of the Gramophone reviewer of this recording, the performance against which all others must now be judged. It is one of those remarkable interpretations that makes all others pale and unsatisfactory by comparison. No G and S lover is unmoved by this sensational piece of music making. Her version is a slow, erotic, languid ballad of vanity and sexual self-satisfaction that makes the conventional renditions seem prissy and just plain silly."

Other stage productions she has starred in include the title role in Carmen Jones, at London's Old Vic Theatre in a production directed by Simon Callow and Jesus Christ Superstar. In 2003, Boulaye launched her West End musical Sun Dance, which took twelve years to put together. Hailed as a celebration of "the colours and music of Africa in a display of ceremonial dances, rituals and initiation ceremonies, all played out to the beat of African drums". It was written and produced by Boulaye herself, and opened at the Hackney Empire Boulaye featured in an excerpt from the show forming part of the interval act at the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest staged at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham.

Television

In 1978, now with several years of experience under her belt, Boulaye appeared on New Faces where she was the only contestant in the series to be awarded maximum points by the judges, and would later win the All Winners Final Gala Show. She has also appeared in The Fosters, Dempsey and Makepeace, and Brothers and Sisters. In 1984, she had her own series, The Patti Boulaye Show on Channel 4. The Christmas special, which featured Cliff Richard was a ratings success, and an album was released in conjunction with the screening of the series.

Film

Boulaye had a starring role in African movie Bisi, Daughter of the River, which is said to be the biggest grossing African movie ever made, running in the cinemas in Nigeria for three years. She starred in The Music Machine – billed as the British Saturday Night Fever – in 1979, and also appeared as a cabaret singer in the 1980 Helen Mirren movie Hussy.

Music

Her victory on New Faces led to the release of the album You Stepped into My Life. Prior to this, she had spent a year touring and releasing several singles with British-based American girlgroup The Flirtations, although she was never officially a member.

Charity

Boulaye is the founder and President of the charity “Support for Africa”, which has built five clinics in rural Africa and a school with HRH Prince Harry's Charity, "Sentebale", in Lesotho.

Other work

The eighties saw an increase in fitness awareness, and Boulaye was among the celebrities whose voices featured on the Shape Up and Dance keep-fit albums. In Africa, she was the face of Lux for twenty-nine years, The Patti Boulaye Show was shown on several NTA stations, and in 1999 she was invited to sing for Olusegun Obasanjo during his inauguration. Boulaye was appointed to the "Entertainment Steering Committee" for the Queen's Golden Jubilee (2 June 2002) and organised and led 5000 Gospel singers down The Mall in the celebrations singing songs including "Celebrate Good News", especially written by Boulaye for the occasion. She has released nine albums and 25 singles to date and currently is writing her autobiography.

In 2012, Boulaye launched her BIPADA Academy, providing advice on soft skills, emotional and personal Development, protocol, etiquette, public relations, media relations and reputation management for students, diplomatic, personal, corporate clients and Governments.

Designing and painting are two of Boulaye's additional talents, with eight London exhibitions under her belt and two seasons of selling her own line of jewellery on QVC. She has also launched her own range of Training Corset designs. In 2013, Patti returned to live work, and played a sellout show at London's Hippodrome Casino to rave reviews and is currently working on a new album.

Autobiography

In March 2017 Boulaye launched her autobiography "The Faith of A Child" available from www.bipada.com/publishing Lulu.com, Amazon and Kindle.

Patti also showcased her one-woman show "Billie & Me" at The Pheasantry in March and will be performing Live-at-Zedel London. This is a Jazz & Blues one-woman-show that draws humorous and thought provoking, entertaining parallels and similarities between Billie Holiday's and Patti’s life through childhood, career, love life, influences, lifestyle choices etc.

"Billie & Me” features music of Billie Holiday, Etta James, Bessie Smith, Alberta Hunter, Bizet, Edith Piaf etc. An intimate night with great music. The show is set to tour in 2018.

Controversy

Boulaye successfully sued The Guardian for libel after the paper wrongly quoted her as saying "This is a time to support apartheid because it's unfashionable"; she later stated she had been set up by a reporter who claimed to have misheard her when she referred to "a party" (The Conservatives) as opposed to "apartheid". The Guardian was later forced to pay £15,000 in damages. She also defended fellow Conservative Jeffrey Archer after he made racist comments about black Britons. During a radio interview, he stated, "[Three decades ago], your head did not turn if a black woman passed because they were badly dressed, probably overweight and probably had a lousy job." Boulaye rallied to Archer's defence, claiming, "I am talking as a black woman who knows Jeffrey Archer very well...and he is not a racist. I think he would make a very good mayor.".

Personal life

A devout Roman Catholic, Boulaye has two children with husband Stephen Komlosy – graphic designer Sebastian and singer-songwriter Aret; Boulaye was seen supporting Aret during her performance on The Voice in 2013.

Discography