When singing ain't enough

Meanwhile, Kenyan-based Ugandan gospel artiste Ambasada and rappers Gidigidi Majimaji are Unicef goodwill ambassadors. 

But in our close-knit entertainment industry, few artistes can claim success in both singing and acting. "This might be due to lack of training to enable one exploit talent," says John Katuli, an ethno-musicologist at Kenyatta University."

When the young generation musicians release a song that happens to become popular, success goes into their heads and blinds them to opportunities that may exist elsewhere such as in movie roles. 

There are a few notable successes. Amongst them is the Tatuu trio of Angela Ndambuki, Angela Mwandanda and Debbie Asila. They met in 1999 during rehearsals for a play at Phoenix Players. Mwandanda featured in Rumours, Richard III and Servant of Two Masters, besides several comedies at Heartstrings Ensemble.

She also acted in the movie, The Passage. Debbie Asila was a presenter of Warehouse, a live music programme once aired on Nation TV. She also participated in musicals Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella and Mapacha with Phoenix Players before featuring in the plays Family Ties, Bold Girls, and the film, All Girls Together.

Angela Ndambuki acted in many plays with Phoenix Players and directed some herself before co-founding a splinter theatre group, RADA, under whose flagship she directed Bold Girls.

A winner in the film category of the University Arts Achievements Awards (2000), Angela has played major and minor roles in movies such as The Passage, Why Me?, All Girls Together, Forgotten and Dangerous Affair. 

The trio, was initially called Aces, but later changed it to Tatuu, and released several songs, amongst them Teso. 

According to a past edition of Time magazine, musicians who chose to dabble in either music or acting are led either by frustration, fan demand or adventure.

But most artistes in the wider showbiz world are driven by fan and peer pressure. Jeniffer Lopez, Will Smith, Tyrese Gibson, Andre 3000 and Ice Cube, have the requisite talents that blend acting and singing. Their names have featured prominently at the Grammys and Oscars, which are the world's most prestigious awards in music and acting respectively. 

Jennifer Lopez seems to have a midas touch on anything glamorous in showbiz – be it fashion, music, movies and well, husbands.

After two multi-platinum albums, On the 6 and the eponymous J-lo, this wonder-girl who has reportedly insured her butt for the equivalent of Sh1billion, has several hit movie credits to her name. They include The Cell, The Wedding Planner and Out of Sight. In 1999, she received a Latin Grammy nomination for a duet she did with Marc Anthony.

Female First magazine reports that Jennifer launched her career as a dancer in stage musicals and toured Europe, Japan and several states in the US. 

Her big break came when she was cast as one of the dancers on Fox Theatre's In Living Colour. It opened doors to more roles in South Central (another Fox production), and ultimately to the movie, Second Chances, where she stars as Melinda Lopez.

Though she featured in other TV roles such as The Nurse and The Crash of Flight 7, it is for her role in the 1995 film, Mi Familia, (about the lives of Mexican immigrants in Los Angeles from the 1930s) that film-makers noticed her seriousness in acting.

She subsequently featured in Riding the Money Train, U-Turn, Anaconda and Blood and Wine. After a role in the science fiction flick, The Cell, in 2000, Lopez returned to the music scene with the album, J-Lo. 

 Jennifer made history as the first female showbiz star to have a number one album and movie in the same week, achieved with the release of The Wedding Planner and J-Lo .

In 1998, she received a Blockbuster Entertainment Award nomination for the Best Actress in Anaconda, a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical for Selena, and an MTV Movie Award nomination for Best Actress for the same movie. 

Her success can only perhaps be equalled by that of Will Smith. Nicknamed "Fresh Prince" since his days as a teen, Smith appeared in the Bad Boys, Independence Day, The Legend of Bagger Vance, Men in Black, Enemy of the State and Wild Wild West, among others. He also had his own sitcom,The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air, once aired locally. 

Smith has been equally, if not more successful, in the music world, with 11 music albums to his name, including the 1999 Willenium, which contained hits such as Will2K and Wild Wild West. He launched his showbiz career through music in the 1980s, when, together with long-time compatriot DJ Jazzy Jeff, he made his first single Rock The House. In 1989, the duo won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance for Parents Just Don't Understand, – the first time this category was presented.

Eleven years later, he was nominated for a similar award for Best Rap Solo Performance, for Wild Wild West. The song was also used as a soundtrack for a movie by the same name in which he stars.

In the West, musicians dabbling in acting is a fad that seems like an automatic calling. "Some rappers treat acting as an entitlement rather than a calling," wrote the Time article. "They take advantage of their celebrity-hood to try something new."

Tyrese Gibson of the Baby Boy (song and film) fame made his showbiz debut with roles in TV productions Hangin' With Mr Cooper, Martin, The Parent Hood and Sister Sister. Two years later, he released a self-titled debut Rhythm & Blues album, 2000 Watts, which went platinum. 

After Baby Boy, the movie, released in 2000, more roles came rolling in. He was cast in Love Song, Too Fast Too Furious, Light of the Phoenix and his latest, Annapolic, among others. 

Fellow rapper Ice Cube first came to public notice in the '80s as a singer and songwriter with the controversial band N.W.A (Niggaz With Attitude). In 1990, he quit the band and began a solo career, releasing Amerikkka's Most Wanted and Death Certificate – a production about the fall and rise of the Black man. He made four more albums and has sold over 10 million copies of his music worldwide. 

Ice Cube made his acting debut in 1991 with Boyz n the Hood. It led to more roles inTrespass and Anaconda. Besides, he has also directed the films Prince and Color Me Badd.

Diversifying from the routine has also been a motivator for stars who pick a different artistic path. Outkast member Andre 3000, who appeared in his first major role in the recently released, Four Brothers, is quoted as saying that his quest in movies was "a new kind of creative freedom".

It's also said that he was fed-up with constant feuding with partner Antwan Patton and he felt "enormous pressure to make hits".

"As a musician, I have a set image and no one wants to see me sad or anything. But in acting, you are allowed to be whatever you want to. You can be embarrassed. You get a chance to cry. People expect you to be real."

You would think that an established rapper would have nothing to fear about getting to stage, whether to sing or act. During auditions, Andre confessed to sweating due to stage freight. "First, I had to make people believe that I was not Andre. Then I had to make people believe that I'm this character. It created a lot of nervous tension."

Others who have answered the call of Hollywood include Queen Latifah in Chicago, Ludacris in Hustle , LL Cool J in Swat, DMX in Romeo Must Die, Tupac Shakur in Above the Rim and Whitney Houston in Waiting to Exhale and The Body Guard.