Former IBAN girl, Ifeyinwa Charity Arinze, popularly known as Ephy, is currently torn between fulfilling her dream of making success of her musical career and giving in to the amorous demands from men.

While she works day and night to build a career for herself, men won’t let her concentrate. They simply want to register her name on their conquest list.

That, in a nutshell, is the dilemma of former IBAN (a three-girl singing group) girl.

Speaking with https://www.nigeriafilms.com, Ephy, formerly known as Ify (while with IBAN) revealed how she strives to strike a balance between her love for music and the pressure from men who ultimately want to take her to bed.

“I can be really crazy. I’m telling you that it could get very crazy because the thing in vogue as far as I’m concerned is marriage. They tell me that once I give them the signal, they would want to see my parents. It’s so funny because I’ve come to realize that I man can say anything just to get a woman. Right now, I have to set my priorities right, and dating is not one of them. I feel that being in a relationship and doing music is like serving two masters and I don’t see myself doing that. I want to finish my album, bring it out then maybe I’ll have time for the guy that comes along.”

Ephy also spoke on why she left her former group and her plans to kick-start a solo career with her forthcoming album.
Meet Ephy

I’m from Auchi in Edo State. I attended Modern Ideal College (MIC), Enugu and Ambrose Ali University, Ekpoma and obtained a diploma in Criminology. I wanted to study law but I couldn’t get in so I took a course related to law so I could switch when I was done with the diploma programme. That was why I studied Criminology because it was the closest to law in my school at the time. I never planned to be a police officer or anything like that. Right from time, I always wanted to be a lawyer. It was a big dream. As for entertainment, I have always had a natural love for it. I’m a movie freak. Sometimes, I would ask my dad to buy movies for me. A video club once asked me to give them my movies so that they could expand their stock. I started acting in 2005. That drew me into entertainment and I started with acting. My first movie was with Genevieve, Sam Dede and others. The title of the movie was ‘Bumper-to-Bumper.’ After that I did Strange affection, Love and Marriage, Blames of Memories and many others. I’ve always wanted to do music so I started by managing a group called ‘X5.’
Solo career

I used to Ify while with IBAN but I’m now Ephy (Exotic Pretty Hot Youth). The guy who was writing songs for IBAN is the same guy who now writes for me. I told him I wanted a ten-track album so he wrote me some songs. His name is Tom Xclaim. He’s an artiste as well. He wrote the popular songs for IBAN, Burn Fire and Pump It. He wrote 80 per cent of the songs for IBAN. I wrote three songs for IBAN. IBAN never came out with an album but we had singles. We had our album ready but it never came out. We had about 11 tracks. I recently learnt that IBAN is on the verge of releasing their album. They recently shot a video at Options Club with Akin Alabi. I was not informed, so I’m just trying to do my own thing because when we were in IBAN, we were sponsoring ourselves. It wasn’t as if we had a sponsor or a marketer. We just pooled our resources to make things work. The name we had for the IBAN album was ‘Pump It’ but it never came out, and I don’t know what name they have for it now. When Ogo left, we took out her voice from the songs. Ditto Innocentia’s. Now that I’m out, my voice will definitely be off the songs.

Rhyme Squad record & I

I gathered resources, spoke to some of my friends in December last year, hoping to do something concrete by February this year as regards my album but at the end of the day, there was this movie I did; ‘Died for Conscience.’ Someone watched the film in Amsterdam, fell in love with it and called the marketer. He asked to get my number and the marketer called me to inform me that somebody called him from Amsterdam saying he has a business proposal for me. I said it was ok, so he gave the guy my number. The guy called me and said he had seen my video, ‘Burn Fire’ on Youtube. He said he didn’t know I was an actress as well. He said he has a record label with just one artiste signed, Samma Rhymes who was recording with Puffy Tee at the time. When I told him I had gone solo, he said it was better as it would enable me penetrate his label, ‘Rhyme Squad.’ He said I should bring my song to the label. He said if it was good enough, that we would do business. I went to them, they listened to my stuff and said it was cool and that they were ready to work with me. They said they would have to reproduce every track with their own producer. I said it was fine. We started attending meetings and we wrapped up the deal. My ten-track album will be coming out soon, but I’m still working with a couple of guys in the industry. I finished working with K-Solo recently and I’ll was with Cabasa on April 9th. Puffy Tee will be my last pot of call. My album will be titled ‘Set to Go.’ I’ll be working on the videos too.

Relationships

I’m not married. Right now, I’m going to be very honest with you. I don’t want to disclose anything about my relationship. I don’t want to disclose details of my relationship right now. I’m definitely in a relationship but I wouldn’t want to start talking about it now. When the time comes, you’ll know. When the time is right it’s not gong to be a hidden thing. I’m not going to have a secret wedding. I’m going to be very proud of my husband; even if he lives abroad, he’s going to have to come to Nigeria because this is where I am and this is where my fans and people are. My families are here so why would I want to go and have a wedding where people won’t see me.

Most cherished part of my body

I love every part of my body. God has blessed me with a terrific figure. I like the fact that I’m chubby. I also have a very nice bum and I love that.

Folks

My parents are in Auchi. My dad is a businessman. He works with Auchi Polytechnic and he runs his own business. I’m the first in my family and they expect a lot from me. I’m an Ibo girl so that’s the way it is. My dad didn’t support the idea of me going into entertainment. He was against it because he wanted me to go to school. My dad wanted me to be a pharmacist. My mum wanted me to be an accountant.