Clarence Peters

Clarence Peters
Clarence Peters on the set of a music video in 2013
Born	Clarence Abiodun Peters Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria[1]
Nationality	Nigerian
Alma mater	City Varsity
Occupation	Filmmaker, music video director, cinematographer
Years active	1998–present
Known for	founding CAPital Dream Pictures and Capital Hill Records
Parent(s)	Clarion Chukwura (mother) Sir Shina Peters (father)
Website	clarencepeters.com

Clarence Peters (born Clarence Abiodun Peters) is a Nigerian music video director, filmmaker and cinematographer. He is the founder and CEO of CAPital Dream Pictures, a production company that specialises in the realms of the performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, and video. He is also the founder and CEO of Capital Hill Records, a record label home to Chidinma, Tha Suspect, and Illbliss.^[2][3] He was ranked 2nd on Channel O's Top 10 Most Visionary Music Video Directors list.^[4] In 1998, he was involved in a Mobil sponsored music video for a documentary on AIDS. He directed 40 episodes of the TV series Everyday People.^[5] Peters has directed music videos for recording artists across an array of genres and generations, including Darey, Durella, and Wizkid.^[6] In 2012, he shot the music video for Shuga's theme song which was recorded by Boneye from P-Unit, Banky W., Wizkid , and L-Tido.^[7] Peters has also shot a good number of documentaries, TV commercials, short films, and TV features.^[6][8] In April 2014, Absolut Vodka honoured Peters for his creativity.^[9]

In September 2015, Peters announced plans to premiere his debut film called 'Hex', a 25-minute-long short horror film. The first official trailer was released on September 28, 2015.

Life and career

Peters was born into a prominent family. He is the son of Sir Shina Peters, a musician, and Clarion Chukwura, an actress. He obtained his primary education from BI primary school, and his secondary education from Government College Ikorodu. After finishing secondary school, he worked at Alpha Visions for three years. He graduated from City Varsity, a film school in Cape Town, South Africa. He majored in Cinematography while studying at City Varsity.^[6] Growing up, Peters was a footballer.^[7] In an interview posted on the Daily Times of Nigeria, his mother opened up about wanting to abort him while he was in her womb, but changed her mind because of her belief that Peters was the reincarnation of her father who she lost when she was 11 years old.^[10] Upon returning to Nigeria from South Africa, Peters teamed up with a group of filmmakers to establish the Alliance Film Company, a company now known as the Allied Film Company. Peters worked with the company for a year, and eventually started his own production company.^[6] Peters has cited Steven Spielberg, Hype Williams, DJ Tee, Akin Alabi, Wudi Awa, HG2films, Kemi Adetiba, Sesan, Aje, and AK 1 as people he admires.^[3][6]

Capital Hill Music

While in secondary school, Peters met Tha Suspect, a record producer and recording artist. The two started a group after becoming acquainted with each other. Capital Hill Records was formed after Peters returned to Nigeria from South Africa. He and Suspect decided to look for a female artist who could rap and sing. At a later date, Peters signed Kel to his record label after being introduced to her by Terry tha Rapman.^[3] In September 2010, Kel had a misunderstanding with Peters, which led to the termination of her recording contract. The rapper managed to release her debut studio album, The Investment, while signed to the label.^[11] Latterly, the label partnered with the Goretti Company, a management company owned by illBliss.

Controversy

In January 2014, a copyright infringement was levelled against Peters after the release of Tiwa Savage's "Eminado" video. He allegedly stole the vintage nature of the "Asinamali" video which was released by Tumi and the Volume to honour the artistic works of Seydou Keïta. Tumi took to Twitter to slander Peters. He urged his fans to shine a light on the issue.^[12] Savage's manager and husband, Tunji "Tee Billz" Balogun, shed some light on the controversy. He said they never knew that the video's concept was adopted from another video, and were surprised as everyone else.^[13]

After the release of Ice Prince's "VIP" music video on 21 June 2013, Peters was accused of plagiarising the contents of Slaughterhouse's "My Life" video and implementing them into the "V.I.P" video.^[14] In February 2014, Ice Prince defended the actions of Peters and said he told him the ideas to shoot. He also said that if anyone has a problem with the situation, they should hold him responsible.^[15]

Awards and nominations

Videography

Notes

A.^{1 2} Peters co-directed "Alingo" with Jude Engees Okoye.

B.^ The song is the theme song for the television series Shuga.^[215]

References