Banky W in Twenty Four Hours

Good looking Bank W, was born Olubankole Wellington to Nigerian parents in the United States of America. Since returning home to pursue a career in music, the musician with a sultry voice, has clearly established himself as a master in the R&B genre.

For his effort in music, his awards and nominations are legion. His first effort, Undeniable in 2003, earned him the 2003 R&B/Soul Artist of the Year at the Urban Independent Music Awards. Since then, several other awards have followed.

In 2006 alone, he won the John Lennon Song Writing Award 2006, R&B Category, for ‘My Regret’ and also emerged Best R&B Artiste, Nigerian Entertainment Awards. That same year, in the USA, the stylish artiste who has made the fedora hat his signature style, was the Best Male R&B Artiste courtesy, Urban Independent Music Awards.

The R&B crooner, fondly called Mr. Capable, spoke to Allure on what his typical day is like. Enjoy it.

“A typical day in my life starts from when I wake up. First, I try to say a little prayer to get my day started. Then I go out to work out with my trainer Uzi. He is the younger brother of Ikechukwu. He is an amazing physical trainer.  He tries to get me into shape so that I can look like Peter from P-quare. After my training, I come home, shower and dress for work.

When dressing for work, the number one consideration for me is comfort. I like to be comfortable so even if I am wearing a suit, it has to fit properly. I wear a lot of traditional outfits these days because they are comfortable. Other than comfort, you should dress how you want to present yourself and how you want people to perceive you.

If you come out looking like a bump, then people will react to you in a certain way. So, the key for me is comfort.
Then I try to eat a healthy meal. For breakfast, I can eat whatever I like. I like chicken a lot especially, chicken breasts. I also like some sea foods just a little bit.

It could be shrimps or whatever. After breakfast, my day becomes fast paced but each day varies depending on the things I have to do for that day. I could be in the studio or have an interview with the press or have a meeting with people trying to negotiate deals for the label.

I could also have an event where I am performing or speaking. Depending on the day, generally, that is how I work.

I have an office but I don’t go there every day depending on what I have to do. If I have a meeting to attend in the office, then I go there otherwise, I could be at home and work from there.

At work, I oversee the musical side of the artists. It is either I work in the studio or we oversee their careers in terms of positioning our artists, working with  different corporate clients to see how we can perform at different platform or liaise with different companies  to find a cross marketing like me and Samsung or Wizkid and Pepsi. So we do a lot of strategic thinking and planning, and negotiations in this regard.

Like I said earlier, it all depends on the day. For example, there are events you attend where you have to attend an after-party or you just feel like letting loose a little bit and hang out with my people. Events like that, could keep me  out a little bit.

The least favourite aspect of my job is when I have to do photo-shoots. I hate photo-shoots. I love video shoots because it seems that I am playing a role in a short movie. Photo-shoots I hate like I hate taking pictures at events. I find it really annoying because you stand there and you are expected to strike poses and do all the random things you do when doing a photo-shoot.

Even though I don’t like it, I have to do it because obviously, I need pictures for my CD covers and interviews. I don’t enjoy it at all. So I try to limit them. I really shouldn’t be saying this because my manager will be upset with me. I only do photo-shoots when I have a new album coming out.

So, when I do that shoot, I try to take as many different pictures as I can so that they will leave me alone at least for the next two years. But they are necessary, because people need to see you and connect with your image as well. So it is a necessary evil. So that is the least favourite aspect of my work’’.