P SQUARE

Multi-talented Music Stars, P-Square, initially were refereed to as Peter and Paul. These young, handsome and energetic Stars got the name P-Square from an M.C. who first introduced them at a concert as P-Square instead of Peter and Paul.

Born to the family of Mr. & Mrs. Moses Okoye, from Ifite Dunu in Anambra State. Peter and Paul had other siblings; Christopher, Henry, Jude, Lilian, Tony and Jojo and Mary. The duo were born and brought up in Jos, the capital of Plateau State – Nigeria. They had lived and based in Jos before relocating to Lagos after the release of their second Album GET SQUARED in 2005. They both attended Tempest Private School, Laranto, Jos, Plateau State in Nigeria. Graduated from St. Murumba College, Jos, Plateau State , Nigeria in 1995/96 set. They are both now graduates from the University of Abuja.

Their entry into the Music Industry started way back from Secondary school (St. Murumba College Jos), they belong to a Literary Club were the performed on stage during Literary Day. They later formed a Dancing Group called SMOOTH CRIMINALS at a very tender age, whereby they are involved in Dancing and miming of Michael Jackson's, M.C. Hammer's and Bobby Brown's music and style. This group (SMOOTH CRIMINALS) were basically a dance group that existed for about 5 years before the dance group broke up and the remaining four (4) comprising of Michael, Melvin, Peter & Paul formed an Acapella Group called MMPP. The group was unable to withstand the test of time disintegrated as other members had to go their various higher institutions leaving behind only the PP (Peter & Paul).

Paul has a keen interest in singing. This saw him going solo and doing his own thing for about some months before Peter, who really hold sway more in the Dance/Choreography, joined him. However, Paul was able to have written “last nite” single handedly, which eventually became their first song and hit track in their Debut Album titled “last nite”.

With Peter joining him, there were able to write and produce “kolo” which became a national identity of the P-SQUARE and also a hit track in the debut album. “Kolo” became the second song P-square produced. After “Kolo” P-square was able to produce more songs like: Senorita, Igbedu, etc which were all tracks in their most successful Debut album; “last nite”.

P-Square apart from Music has also acted in some Nigerian Home Video. Having done the sound track for Ivas Rivers, Mama Sunday, Moment of Bitterness, they actually starred in Great Obligation, Tobi etc.

Paul saw Peter as a challenge being the head of the Dancing Group and coordinates the choreography was motivated to strike a balance thereby taking up the lead as the main vocalist while. Peter gives in 60% of the Choreography, Paul saw to it that he also contribute 60-65% in the singing, thereby making each of them indispensable.

While Peter joined Paul to sing, they both stopped dancing for a while and only sing R & B and Rap. But as they were mostly motivated by the likes of Michael Jackson and M.C. Hammer, who danced and sang at the same time, they decided to combine both and that is when the produced Igbedu and their other hit tracks.

The story of P-square as sang by them in one of their songs, “story” enumerated all their successes. P-squares major break through came with their performance at a competition in Jos organized by B & H which became their first Big Show/Performance. After rehearsing for only 4 days before the competition, they emerged first among the rest. Thereafter, they were nominated to represent Plateau State in Abuja for the Northern Zone Competition of the B & H Grab the Mic. With Dashing steps like that of Michael Jackson's Thriller and sweet songs like last nite, Kolo, Igbedu etc P-square emerged winners of the competition, beating other competitors from Kaduna, Markurdi, Kano, Maiduguri etc to represent the Northern Zone at the Grand Finale.

The Grand finale was held in Lagos in 2002. P-square expectedly still emerge winners of the competition beating other competititons from the other zones of Nigeria. This show of talent prompted Benson & Hedges to sponsor their debut Album “Last Nite” in 2003 which was a huge success.

In 2003 B&H contracted P-square for a Road Tour , which saw them covering 11 States and performed in majors cities across the country like, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Bauchi, Maiduguri, Jos, Kaduna, Markudi etc . The road tours was stage managed by Adrot Entertainment owned by Howie T. who discovered their talent and was able to convince B&H to sponsor their debut album "Last Nite" which was released July 18 under his label Timbuk 2 Music . The whole era of the album "Last Nite" was managed by Adrot Entertainment. 

The Album did well in the market with impressive number of copies sold. Three months after the release of the album, it brought several nominations and awards. P-square was nominated “most promising African group” in 2003 at the 2003 KORA AWARDS in South Africa and won the AMEN 2004 awards for the “Best performing R&B group in  Nigeria”. In 2003, P-square also came out with a thrilling video of one of their hit tracks in the debut album titled “Senorita” which topped the chart for almost 3 months (both video & audio). The Dance steps of the Video Senorita invited so much attention and was the favourite video on request in Channel O and many other TV and Radio Stations. Apart from “senorita” P-square also released another of their video titled Igbedu in 2003 which was also a chart buster, both produced and directed by their elder brother Jude Okoye C.E.O of North Side Entertainment.

Since P-Square's first Album, Last Nite, success refused to depart from them due to their hard work. This has manifested in their huge presence and influence in the Music Industry in recent times especially their domineering presence at almost all shows/concert in the country or how would one rate them when they had Perform for MTN's Yellow Fest, Star Trek, Gulder Ultimate Discovery, Nescafe, Lipton etc. and performing along side mega stars like Usher, Genuiwine, Sean Paul, Akon, Wayne Wonder, Pras of the Fugees etc.

After the huge success of P-Square's first Album “Last Nite”, P-Square, being motivated by the likes of P. Daddy and R. Kelly who are Producers, singers and owners of record labels, decided to establish their own record label , SQUARE RECORDS headed by Jude Okoye, who handled all their recordings for the second Album - GET SQUARED. They hope to sign on and produce other Artiste in the future.

In July, 2005 P-Square released its second album titled GET SQUARED and the first collection of their videos titled DA VIDEOS. One of the hit tracks GET SQUARED is currently the rave both in Nigeria, Africa and internationally. With over three million viewers on the MTV Base, “Get Squared” has already hit the number one chart on (Top 50 MTV Base Most Requested Video ). Presently the same video has also hit number one on (MTV Base Hot list). Also the same video (Get Squared) has reached number one on (MTV Base chart). The track “Bizzy Body” currently is now a Hit track in Nigeria and all over Africa.

The Video “Get Squared” has generated a lot of controversies and speculations! While some believe it was shot and produced in either Europe , South Africa or somewhere in America and edited in UK or Canada, others has made up their mind that the costume used by P-Square was sourced from America and Europe.

The truth is that the video “Get Squared” was shot in all it's entirety in Jos! This include location, stage, costume, edition, production, cast and crew.

The Video was shot in the Hall of St. Murumba College, Jos, Plateau State-Nigeria, which ironically was the first stage where P-Square started their choreography.

The concept of the video was initiated and Directed by Jude “Engees” Okoye (their elder brother), President of North Side Entertainment and former Handler of Smooth Entertainment. Jude “Engees” Okoye is presently their manager.

Costumes, Paintings, Interior and Stage Design by Tony Okoye, owner of Ajeh Wears (their immediate elder brother) whom also danced/choreographed in the video and one of the best dancers of the P-Square Crew.

The Dance Steps/Choreography was created by Peter Okoye and Oshe Ovuorho (Magic Steps). Peter coordinates the Choreography of the P-Square crew. Oshe is also one of the best Dancer/Choreographer of the crew.

The Choice of St. Murumba College became inevitable since the whole thing about P-Square started there. They feel more at home there and could dance better on St. Murumba College's Hall. For instance, Peter could close his eyes and dance for close to 30 minutes on the stage. He could also walk down the steps dancing with his eyes closed!