Patricia Ngozi Ebigwei (known as Patti Boulaye, OBE) was born on May 3rd, 1954 in Lagos, Nigeria to Paul Mathias Ebigwei and Arit Dorothy Effiom Coco-Bassey from Delta state. She is a singer, author, actress, public speaker, lecturer, painter, and show producer.
Patti Boulaye is 70 years old.
Patti was born after her mother went into labour in a taxicab between two villages in the Bendel Igbo region of rural Nigeria.a. She grew up in a strict Roman Catholic home with eight siblings, including airline pilot Tony Ebigwei who was killed in the Nigerian Airways plane crash of 1978. As a teenager, Boulaye survived the Biafran war, and attributes this to her strong faith.
At the age of 16, Patti’s life changed when came to London and made her West End debut in the musical “Hair.” She featured in “Two Gentlemen of Verona” and her first starring role was as “Yum Yum” in “The Black Mikado”, blazing the trail for other black performers in the burgeoning British entertainment industry of the time.
Boulaye is a Visiting Teaching Fellow at Middlesex University and recently released her autobiography “The Faith of a Child” a remarkable, moving and exciting story that charts her riveting life story through wealth, poverty and civil war, to show- business stardom and success in Britain and her birth country Nigeria. Her enthralling life journey which has been written with great candor and integrity, takes the reader through her very difficult childhood, her parents violent divorce, utter poverty and virtual slavery in a backwards town, to wealth in the turmoil of elections in the independent Nigeria and near death in the genocide of the Biafra War. Her redoubtable mother instilled enormous strength and the love of God in her heart through her own many examples of faith and fortitude. She observed when Patti had grown up, that hers was still “The faith of a child”
After Patti’s starring role in the African movie “ Bisi, Daughter of the River” - the biggest grossing African Movie ever made - she came to prominence as a singer winning the British ITV talent show New Faces, where she made history by becoming the only contestant ever to receive the maximum 120 points from the tough panel of judges. Patti’s victory on New Faces led to appearances on stage, film and television, including the starring role in “The Music Machine,” “Carmen” in “Carmen Jones” (The Old Vic and World tour) and Royal Command Performances. In 1984, she had her own series, “The Patti Boulaye Show” on Channel 4.
In 2014 Patti received the Freedom of the City of London and in January 2016 she was awarded an OBE for her charity work in the UK & Sub-Saharan Africa. Patti has built 5 healthcare clinics in villages in Africa and sponsored a school in Lesotho with HRH Prince Harry's charity, Sentebale.
She also starred in BBC travel documentary series “The Real Marigold Hotel.” The series, documented the authentic experience of eight famous senior citizens as they head to India on an experimental adventure, which was an outstanding success. Patti has released 9 albums and 25 singles and has recently returned to her great love performing live music with her new show “Billie & Me” in which she parallels Billie Holidays’ life with hers and sings some of the great Billie Holiday songs and Patti’s own favourite songs.
For over 30 years Patti has supported many charities in the UK. Her experience with the charities came in handy when she launched her charity Support For Africa (SFA) at the Royal Albert Hall with 3000 Gospel Singers and Stars of stage and screen. SFA has built 5 healthcare clinics and a school in Africa. Patti was on HM The Queen's Golden Jubilee Creative Committee, for which she organized and lead her 5000 Gospel Singers down The Mall.
Patti is the Founder and Managing Director of BIPADA Academy www.bipada.com which has an enviable list of experts on Life Skills, Emotional, Social, International Etiquette and Personal Development. Bipada helps clients build self confidence and turn their lives around. Bipada has held etiquette programmes at Oxford University, Middlesex University, Central London and Buckinghamshire.
She is a Champion and Patron of The Arts Award UK and a Patron of Eastside Educational Trust. Patti is a member of the Board of Governors of The British American Drama Academy (BADA) which is affiliated with Oxford University and Yale University in the US. For the past three years she has been a visiting lecturer at Middlesex University to final year students at the Business School Faculty.
A devout Catholic, Patti has two children with British husband Stephen Anton Komlosy – graphic designer Sebastian Komlosy and singer-songwriter Aret Kapetanovic. She also has a grandson.
Her net worth is not available.
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