Why Do They Break Up?

It is common knowledge, even  to the most casual consumer of  popular music that musical groups don’t last forever and that the monster everyone refers to as  ‘irreconcilable differences,’ always shows up whenever gifted people get together for a common cause.

Internationally-acclaimed groups like Destiny’s Child, TLC, Spice Girls, Commodores,  Jackson 5,  Wailers and many others broke up at various times for reasons that included huge falling outs, untimely deaths and over-dependence on drugs.

Here in Ghana, groups like Irene and Jane, Echo, Wutah, Klala and Praye have broken up in the recent past though not with the kind of acrimony associated with some breakups we know of elsewhere.

All the same, some fans have been saddened and have even wondered why amicable terms could not be reached by the individuals involved to avoid the breakups.

Kofi Okyere Darko (KOD), a broadcaster and artiste manager contended that groups will always break up because they are made  up of individuals who, like in marriages, come together with already formed attitudes which manifest more vividly with time.

“ Some of the groups that have broken up here in recent times came together purposely for the Nescafe Africa Revelation (NAR) contest .  They didn’t look beyond staying together after that but  realized   people liked what they were doing and decided to stick together,” said KOD who used to manage the Wutah duo of Kobby and  Peevee that came to prominence through  the 2004 NAR contest.

“I have realized it is not  even money that often brings  about the differences. It is more about  work attitude. One is punctual at rehearsals and wants  to work hard towards shows, the other  is not of that frame of mind. You would book and pay for a studio  for a recording session and one would be on time , the other would be missing. At least  in Wutah’s case,  that was what brought  about  the split.”

Klala was originally a trio but was reduced to F. Gee and Mantse Sole when  Lyff  Angels left. The duo that remained has also now gone apart. F Gee said they did not quarrel but came to an amiable agreement  to work separately and that  were still friends.

If Klala broke up peacefully, that does not seem to have been the case with Praye where Praye Tintin claimed he was literally thrown  out by his two other friends. Kiki Banson of EKB Records who used to manage the group, told Showbiz he was surprised to learn that  the trio could not see eye to eye anymore.

“They were three personalities with distinct contributions who seemed to be on the same wavelength. Obviously,  things would not be the same without the third party. I even have a feeling  that Praye now may not be as successful as when it worked as  a trio unless the remaining two do something  radically different  from what the group was known for  earlier.  I stand for correction, anyway.“

Big egos wanting to dominate colleagues is sometimes a cause for breakups. KOD  insists that  since breaking up is not unique to any country but happens everywhere, the best thing  artistes could do was   to go off and pursue whatever they desired and regroup to work again.

“The Wutah guys  had different styles that jelled nicely together as a group.  When they separated,  the idea was to come together again later but it seems that won’t happen now.”

Even siblings sometimes cannot stay together in a group. The Jackson 5 is the best example of that. People say the way of all flesh is to die at some point in time. Maybe the way of all musical groups is to break up at some point in time.