George Darko wanted me dead – Veteran Highlife artiste alleges

Veteran highlife artiste, Lee Dodou was on Happy
FM’s ShowBiz Xtra with Dr Cann to talk about his
long career in music and life in the diaspora.
The 62-year-old highlifer talking about taking care
of himself and looking young revealed;
“I exercise a lot, I don’t drink but I smoke and it’s
good for me. Many people smoke and even my
father smoked and still lived till 90 years. I’m not
saying everyone should go and smoke but it works
for me. And I'm not talking about any other smoke,
I'm referring to cigarettes.”
On why he smoked, the Akwankwa hitmaker
revealed:
“During our time, I kept reading magazine and there
was this group called Smokey Boys including Joe
Coker, and I understand that he was an alcoholic,
and many of the best singers of that time were
either smoking or drinking but they train after doing
this. And it gave them a unique voice.”
As one of the pioneers of Burger Highlife, it was
shocking the singer said he wouldn’t allow his
children to dabble their hands into music because it
never made him rich.
“I wouldn’t want my children to pursue music
because I haven’t benefitted in music. It didn’t
make me rich."
In answering Dr Cann’s question on why he never
got rich singing all the classics, the Kantata Band
leader alleged:
“Maybe it would have been better if I had not had
my problems with the people I worked with during
my peak.
"Because I had my moment – My breakthrough
came but George Darko cut it short. I went through
things so painful I don’t even want to talk about it.
Even to the extent my life was threatened.
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And that’s one of the main reasons why I didn’t
want to come to Ghana anymore.
“I was nearly even murdered in the 80’s. If you
remember, there was a story about Lee Dodou and
Kantata Band in 89 and we lost one of our guys
mysteriously. It was catastrophic.
The Akpeteshie singer also revealed he was once in
the same group with George Darko but after the
group broke up, George Darko started picking on
him because he was behind a lot of their creative
works and so George felt threatened by his
presence in the music scene.
“I was doing a lot of the singing too during our time
in the group George Darko and the Bus Stop but
because he was leader of the group, he took all the
glory and he wanted it to stay like that. So he
wanted me dead.
“When we made Akoo Te Brofo for instance; we
were seven guys. George [Darko], Me, Sometimer,
Jagger, Akoo, Bob Fishian, Stephen Mends. And it
was George Darko who sang it. I brought that idea
because at that time it was Cool and the Gang era
with James Taylor as the singer.
But George Cool was the leader of the band and it
was me who brought that idea that we should go the
Cool and The Gang way and so we did George
Darko and the Bus Stop. And when the problems
started I didn’t leave the group, it was George
Darko who left and everyone followed. So I didn’t
understand why I became the target. So why
George targeted me out of all the group is
something I still wonder about.”
Listen to Lee Dodou's 'Akwankwa' below: