The sad news of the death of Papa Wemba is a wake up call for artists and their managers to see reason why promoters and event organisers need the services of healthcare service providers for artists while on engagement for their events to avoid preventable fatalities as this. Most artists due to their busy schedules are known not to be paying enough attention to their health and listening to their bodies which may have been under pressure and stretched to breaking point without them knowing it. Artiste managers need to insist that the services of a trained health personnel who specialises in handling celebrities is factored into their performance contract to ensure that artists are well monitored and looked after when on professional engagement anywhere in the world. That way, risks such as this will be detected early enough and efforts made to seek help before it is too late. In the past, The King of soul music James Brown died while on a series of shows lined up for him. The same thing happened to the King of pop Michael Jackson who died while also under pressure from preparations for his mother of all shows 'This is it'. We are yet to recover from the shocking news of the demise of the purple rain crooner Prince earlier this week and now it is our own dear Papa Wemba. This is the reason we must all see the need to engage the services of professionals like
Vickie Roberts Hospitality services who had been a veteran advocate for our artistes to be given good health care checks and having standby health personnel when they are on duty call anywhere in the world. Like John the Baptist, she has been lending her voice to this call and this might just be one more last call for us to save the lives of our stars by doing the right thing as a stitch in time saves nine. May the soul of Papa Wemba rest in perfect peace.
