{"id":129023,"date":"2026-07-30T08:56:56","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T08:56:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tv.guardian.ng\/?p=129023"},"modified":"2026-10-21T09:35:42","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T09:35:42","slug":"when-stella-monye-chose-motherhood-over-stardom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/when-stella-monye-chose-motherhood-over-stardom\/","title":{"rendered":"When Stella Monye chose motherhood over stardom"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"dailymotion-player\"><script src=\"https:\/\/geo.dailymotion.com\/player\/x1ee8e.js\" data-video=\"xate4pi\"><\/script><\/div><br><br><p>\nLong before today\u2019s global Afrobeat&#8217;s explosion, Stella Monye was laying the blueprint. <\/p>\n<p>Explore the iconic journey of the &#8220;Samba Queen&#8221;, from her 1983 breakout hit &#8220;Oko Mi Ye&#8221; and touring alongside Miriam Makeba, to the selfless maternal sacrifice that led her to step away from the spotlight.<\/p>\n<p>Stella Monye\u2019s story isn&#8217;t just about music; it\u2019s a masterclass in resilience, love, and artistic integrity. As she re-enters the scene with fresh sound and eyes on collaborating with modern hitmakers like Asake and BNXN, her legacy remains timeless.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Long before today\u2019s global Afrobeat&#8217;s explosion, Stella Monye was laying the blueprint. Explore the iconic journey of the &#8220;Samba Queen&#8221;, from her 1983 breakout hit &#8220;Oko Mi Ye&#8221; and touring alongside Miriam Makeba, to the selfless maternal sacrifice that led her to step away from the spotlight. Stella Monye\u2019s story isn&#8217;t just about music; it\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129024,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gam_disable_ads":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13735,37964],"tags":[21298,41605,659,16209,41604],"class_list":["post-129023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guardian-life","category-top-video","tag-afro-american-history","tag-afrobeat-legacy","tag-music","tag-nigerian-music","tag-stella-monye"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>When Stella Monye chose motherhood over stardom - GuardianTV<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Explore the iconic journey of the &quot;Samba Queen&quot;, from her 1983 breakout hit &quot;Oko Mi Ye&quot; and touring alongside Miriam Makeba, to the selfless maternal sacrifice that led her to step away from the spotlight.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/when-stella-monye-chose-motherhood-over-stardom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"When Stella Monye chose motherhood over stardom - GuardianTV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Explore the iconic journey of the &quot;Samba Queen&quot;, from her 1983 breakout hit &quot;Oko Mi Ye&quot; and touring alongside Miriam Makeba, to the selfless maternal sacrifice that led her to step away from the spotlight.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/when-stella-monye-chose-motherhood-over-stardom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"GuardianTV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-30T08:56:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-10-21T09:35:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/tv.guardian.ng\/2026\/07\/kls9090.jpg.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1214\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2160\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Abiodun Ogundairo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Abiodun Ogundairo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/when-stella-monye-chose-motherhood-over-stardom\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/when-stella-monye-chose-motherhood-over-stardom\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Abiodun Ogundairo\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a7ea396ab9bae73d4845496dbad885f1\"},\"headline\":\"When Stella Monye chose motherhood over stardom\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-30T08:56:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-21T09:35:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/when-stella-monye-chose-motherhood-over-stardom\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":102,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/when-stella-monye-chose-motherhood-over-stardom\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/kls9090.jpg.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"Afro-American history\",\"Afrobeat Legacy\",\"Music\",\"Nigerian music\",\"Stella Monye\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Guardian Life\",\"Top Video\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/when-stella-monye-chose-motherhood-over-stardom\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/when-stella-monye-chose-motherhood-over-stardom\\\/\",\"name\":\"When Stella Monye chose motherhood over stardom - GuardianTV\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/when-stella-monye-chose-motherhood-over-stardom\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/when-stella-monye-chose-motherhood-over-stardom\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/kls9090.jpg.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-30T08:56:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-21T09:35:42+00:00\",\"description\":\"Explore the iconic journey of the \\\"Samba Queen\\\", from her 1983 breakout hit \\\"Oko Mi Ye\\\" and touring alongside Miriam Makeba, to the selfless maternal sacrifice that led her to step away from the spotlight.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/when-stella-monye-chose-motherhood-over-stardom\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/when-stella-monye-chose-motherhood-over-stardom\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/when-stella-monye-chose-motherhood-over-stardom\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/kls9090.jpg.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/kls9090.jpg.jpeg\",\"width\":1214,\"height\":2160,\"caption\":\"When Stella Monye chose motherhood over stardom\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/when-stella-monye-chose-motherhood-over-stardom\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"When Stella Monye chose motherhood over stardom\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/\",\"name\":\"GuardianTV\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"GuardianTV\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/5SUudJ8m-oZUN2RNk-Logo-white.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/5SUudJ8m-oZUN2RNk-Logo-white.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":96,\"caption\":\"GuardianTV\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a7ea396ab9bae73d4845496dbad885f1\",\"name\":\"Abiodun Ogundairo\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guardian.ng\\\/tv\\\/author\\\/abiodun\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"When Stella Monye chose motherhood over stardom - GuardianTV","description":"Explore the iconic journey of the \"Samba Queen\", from her 1983 breakout hit \"Oko Mi Ye\" and touring alongside Miriam Makeba, to the selfless maternal sacrifice that led her to step away from the spotlight.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/when-stella-monye-chose-motherhood-over-stardom\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"When Stella Monye chose motherhood over stardom - GuardianTV","og_description":"Explore the iconic journey of the \"Samba Queen\", from her 1983 breakout hit \"Oko Mi Ye\" and touring alongside Miriam Makeba, to the selfless maternal sacrifice that led her to step away from the spotlight.","og_url":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/when-stella-monye-chose-motherhood-over-stardom\/","og_site_name":"GuardianTV","article_published_time":"2026-07-30T08:56:56+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-10-21T09:35:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1214,"height":2160,"url":"https:\/\/s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/tv.guardian.ng\/2026\/07\/kls9090.jpg.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Abiodun Ogundairo","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Abiodun Ogundairo","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/when-stella-monye-chose-motherhood-over-stardom\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/when-stella-monye-chose-motherhood-over-stardom\/"},"author":{"name":"Abiodun Ogundairo","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#\/schema\/person\/a7ea396ab9bae73d4845496dbad885f1"},"headline":"When Stella Monye chose motherhood over stardom","datePublished":"2026-07-30T08:56:56+00:00","dateModified":"2026-10-21T09:35:42+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/when-stella-monye-chose-motherhood-over-stardom\/"},"wordCount":102,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/when-stella-monye-chose-motherhood-over-stardom\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2026\/07\/kls9090.jpg.jpeg","keywords":["Afro-American history","Afrobeat Legacy","Music","Nigerian music","Stella Monye"],"articleSection":["Guardian Life","Top Video"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/when-stella-monye-chose-motherhood-over-stardom\/","url":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/when-stella-monye-chose-motherhood-over-stardom\/","name":"When Stella Monye chose motherhood over stardom - GuardianTV","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/when-stella-monye-chose-motherhood-over-stardom\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/when-stella-monye-chose-motherhood-over-stardom\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2026\/07\/kls9090.jpg.jpeg","datePublished":"2026-07-30T08:56:56+00:00","dateModified":"2026-10-21T09:35:42+00:00","description":"Explore the iconic journey of the \"Samba Queen\", from her 1983 breakout hit \"Oko Mi Ye\" and touring alongside Miriam Makeba, to the selfless maternal sacrifice that led her to step away from the spotlight.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/when-stella-monye-chose-motherhood-over-stardom\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/when-stella-monye-chose-motherhood-over-stardom\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/when-stella-monye-chose-motherhood-over-stardom\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2026\/07\/kls9090.jpg.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2026\/07\/kls9090.jpg.jpeg","width":1214,"height":2160,"caption":"When Stella Monye chose motherhood over stardom"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/when-stella-monye-chose-motherhood-over-stardom\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"When Stella Monye chose motherhood over stardom"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#website","url":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/","name":"GuardianTV","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#organization","name":"GuardianTV","url":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2026\/09\/5SUudJ8m-oZUN2RNk-Logo-white.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gtvcdn.guardian.ng\/2026\/09\/5SUudJ8m-oZUN2RNk-Logo-white.png","width":600,"height":96,"caption":"GuardianTV"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/#\/schema\/person\/a7ea396ab9bae73d4845496dbad885f1","name":"Abiodun Ogundairo","url":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/author\/abiodun\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129023"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129026,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129023\/revisions\/129026"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}