One year on, Ebony Reigns still reigns in Ghana music

Her songs dominated the airwaves, her brand grew, her beauty was divine and her persona interesting.

This is just a brief description of the attributes of the late dancehall queen, Priscilla Opoku-Kwarteng, known in the showbiz industry as Ebony Reigns.

Ebony’s dominance in the music industry was not only with her songs but also in her stage crafts. As many new and young artistes would copy the style of their role models and people they admire, Ebony, “The 90s Bad Girl”, as she would affectionately call herself, was of her own unique style and gait, ‘doing her own things.’

The brand Ebony was a household name within the populace of music lovers in Ghana. She was too hot like her music, vibrating her way through all music playing channels. She was a brand that many known artistes dared not to underestimate, both in Ghana and abroad.

For many music lovers, Ebony faced no competition either from her female counterparts nor the male artistes in 2017.

She dominated the music charts throughout the year and was captured in headlines for varied reasons, which she became one of the most-talked-about artiste in the showbiz industry.

It was therefore not surprising that she (Ebony) became the first female singer in Ghana to win the overall artiste of the year in the 2018 Vodafone Ghana Music Award.
But the “The 90s Bad Girl”, like many other bubbling Ghanaian celebrities such as Suzy Williams, Kwame Ansah, and Terry Bonchaka, Ebony left the stage too early when the applause was becoming too loud.

Ebony died in a car crash on the Sunyani-Kumasi highway after visiting her mother on February 8, 2018, together with her friend, Franky Kuri and a bodyguard, Francis Vondee at age 20. Although Ebony was 20 years, her popularity and fame stood tall than her age.

Many of her fans could not believe the news about her death until videos and photos of the car in which she was travelling on were published on various social media platforms.

Ebony is credited with hit songs such as ‘Kupe’, ‘Poison’, ‘Sponsor’, ‘Date your father’, ‘Hustle’, ‘Maame Hw3’, and ‘Aseda.’ She was laid to rest on March 24, 2018, at the Osu Cemetery.

Awards Ebony won both posthumously and when she was alive included the ‘Afro Pop Song of the Year’ with her track, ‘Sponsor’ with her album, ‘Bonyfied’, receiving the ‘Album of the Year’ in the 2018 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards.

Today, February 8, marks exactly one year the “The 90s Bad Girl” died. But her fans still believe Ebony Reigns still reigns even in her death with her music.