Weasel, Radio refute break-up rumours

GOODLYF singing duo of Mowzey Radio and Weasel has dismissed allegations that they are breaking up. Rumours have been circulating that Weasel had ditched his long time singing partner Radio for Pallaso, his brother.

Friday, June 06, 2014
Radio and Weasel perform in Kigali last week.

GOODLYF singing duo of Mowzey Radio and Weasel has dismissed allegations that they are breaking up. Rumours have been circulating that Weasel had ditched his long time singing partner Radio for Pallaso, his brother.

 However the Ugandan singers with a big following in Rwanda have refuted the claims.

In an interview with Weasel, he said Radio is a brother to him and he couldn’t just walk out on him.

"It’s not about making money, the two of us have been through thick and thin; we have been together with no money, shared the same bed and food. I can’t just walk out on my brother. The reason why most groups break up is because they don’t know each other so well and are together just to make money but have no solid relationship,” Weasel said.

Radio shares the same feelings.

"My friendship with Weasel was not about riches and fame but rather a dream. We wanted to do something unique and be loved and heard by the public. Now everybody knows us and we don’t think we can just throw that away easily.”

"When I met Weasel it was not about the money or fame it was about survival, can we get some lunch and supper, can we buy airtime, can we afford to buy a phone? We just wanted a better life and we have that now,” Radio said.

The group is among the big names on the Ugandan music scene and many parts of Africa. The duo started working together seven years ago after breaking away from musician Jose Chameleon.

In comes a new manager

The Fitting hit makers recently sacked their manager after accusing him of trying to cause a rift between them.

Radio and former manager, Jeff Kiwanuka, were involved in counter accusations with Radio accusing the latter of attempting to separate him from Weasel.

They sacked Kiwanuka in April and hired Chagga as their new manager.

The move by Radio and Weasel to recruit Chagga as their new manager has been criticised by some people who see Chagga as a failure in the music industry.

The duo however think otherwise; "The thing is our dream is a union of a life time and we want to build a legacy and if we see someone who wants to shutter our dream we get you out of the system and bring on board people that will help us achieve it and Chagga was our best choice,” Radio explained.

Chagga responds to critics

Chagga has a lot of work to do now since he has to prove to his critics that he can do a better job than Jeff. Having been described as a failure in music, Chagga has come out to defend himself.  

"I didn’t fail in music, I just stopped singing.  I am still among the best musicians to come out of Uganda but I decided to call it quits and concentrate on other things. Radio and Weasel asked me if I could be their manager because they believe in me. So, people who are talking should wait and see my work before they criticise me,” Chagga said.

He added that the new management is on path of reconciliation and has registered some success.

"The beef with Bebe Cool no longer exists. He performed on their album launch which was my initiative, and people loved it. The same goes for their wrangles with Bobi Wine, Chameleon and journalists. In fact Radio and Weasel have recorded a song with Chameleon that will be released soon,” he said.

Mowzey Radio, original names Moses Sekibogo was born in Busoga and raised in Kampala. He later joined Kiira College Butiki before joining Makerere University where he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in psychology. 

On the other hand, Chameleon’s kid brother Weasel, original names Douglas Mayanja, was born in Kawempe, a suburb of Kampala. He attended Kako Secondary School in Masaka.

The duo started their music career in Leone Island crew led by Jose Chameleon as back up artists. In 2008, they quit Leone Island and proceeded to form their own group, GoodLyf. Last year, they were among Black Entertainment Television (BET) award nominees in the Best International Act category but lost to Ice Prince from Nigeria.