Media guru Ray Mike Nwachukwu dies at 71

While alive, Ray Mike Nwachukwu’s professional gamut ranged from broadcasting to print journalism, advertising and music production and criticism. But on Tuesday, January 16, his life’s music stopped as he died in a Lagos hospital after a brief illness. He was 71. He is survived by his wife, children and grandchildren.

An old boy of Government College Ughelli, in present day Delta State, he rose to prominence on the Nigerian broadcasting space, working with elite artistes and bands of that era. He worked as presenter before delving into advertising and music production.

At LINTAS Advertising where he was a Senior Producer, he produced commercials, jingles and voice-overs. Some prominent jingles he did include the 25th and 40th Nigeria’s independence jingles.

Ray-Mike also created ARR-EM, one of Nigeria’s earliest state-of-the-art recording studios and he was responsible for producing hits like ‘Time Na Money’.

In later years, he opened his production outfit in Surulere, Lagos. A highlife aficionado, he presented ‘It’s Time For Highlife’, a music programme on Classic FM he hosted with Bukola Ogunrinde.

“I am always willing to help people who want me and who feel I can be of benefit to them and that’s why this programme I do on Classic FM makes a lot of sense to me,” he said in a 2014 interview.

Already, people have started paying tributes to the late music producer.

‘I didnt know this would be our last time together last December,’ wrote Jimi Disu on Facebook on Wednesday, posting a picture he took with the ace broadcaster.

‘RIP Uncle Ray Mike Nwachukwu.’

Another Facebook user, Gboyega ‘Afrologic’ Oyedele also wrote: ‘How sad. May his soul rest in peace.’

source: Thenation