Patricia Ngozi Komlosy OBE (née Ebigwei ; born 3 May 1954), known professionally as Patti Boulaye is a British-Nigerian singer, actress and artist who rose to prominence after winning New Faces in 1978 and was among the leading black British entertainers in the 1970s and 1980s. In her native Nigeria she is best remembered for starring in Lux commercials and Bisi, Daughter of the River, as well as her own series, The Patti Boulaye Show.
Her stage name is said to have been inspired by the actress Evelyn "Boo" Laye.
Early life
Boulaye was born after her mother went into labour in a taxi that was passing through two towns in Mid-Western Nigeria and was raised in a strict Catholic household with nine children, including airline pilot Tony Ebigwei, who was killed in the Nigerian Airways plane crash of 1978. She is of Efik and Igbo origin. As a teenager Boulaye survived the 1967–70 Biafran war and attributes this to her strong faith.
At the age of 16 she left Nigeria for the United Kingdom where she decided to become a nun. However, during a sightseeing trip in London, Boulaye stood in a queue for what she assumed was Madame Tussauds but turned out to be an audition for the original London production of Hair and soon won a part, which launched her career in musicals. Her father, who did not approve of showbusiness, disowned his daughter but later forgave her.
Career
Stage
After Hair, she featured in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, but landed her first starring role as Yum Yum in The Black Mikado under her birth name, Patricia Ebigwei.
Other stage productions she has starred in include the title role in Carmen Jones (at London's Old Vic Theatre, in a production directed by Simon Callow) and Jesus Christ Superstar. In 2003 Boulaye launched her West End musical, Sun Dance, which took twelve years to put together. Hailed as a celebration of "the colours and music of Africa in a display of ceremonial dances, rituals and initiation ceremonies, all played out to the beat of African drums". It was written and produced by Boulaye herself and opened at the Hackney Empire. Boulaye featured in an excerpt from the show forming part of the interval act at the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest, staged at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. she received the Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) award.
Television
In 1978, now with several years of experience under her belt, Boulaye appeared on New Faces where she was the only contestant in the series to be awarded maximum points by the judges, and would later win the All Winners Final Gala Show. Boulaye played the part of Charlotte opposite Lenny Henry in The Fosters, Dempsey and Makepeace, and Brothers and Sisters. In 1984, she had her own series, The Patti Boulaye Show on Channel 4. The Christmas special, which featured Cliff Richard, was a ratings success and an album was released in conjunction with the screening of the series.
Boulaye has made over 200 TV appearances including Royal Command Performances at the London Palladium. She starred in 12 of BBC TV's annual "Joy to the World" Christmas programmes, produced by Major Sir Michael Parker KCVO CBE at the Royal Albert Hall, with Sir Cliff Richard, Roger Moore and other internationally acclaimed stars. Boulaye appeared in two episodes of Pointless. She appeared as a contestant in a series of BBC's popular Celebrity MasterChef and later in an episode of BBC One's Money For Nothing, and Channel 5's When Talent Shows Go Horribly Wrong.
In January and February 2016 Boulaye appeared in the three-part BBC series The Real Marigold Hotel, which followed a group of celebrity senior citizens, including Miriam Margolyes and Wayne Sleep, on a journey to India.
In July 2018, Boulaye devised and hosted her TV chat show series "Life With Patti Boulaye" which is recorded and streamed Worldwide by Disruptive Live TV. Life with Patti Boulaye is the result of Boulaye's concern about the alarming state of the mental health and suicide rates among young people. Guests on the show are from all walks of life and are encouraged to share some of the challenges they have faced and to explain how they overcame them.
Film
Boulaye had a starring role in African movie Bisi, Daughter of the River (1977), which was said to be the biggest grossing African movie ever made, running in the cinemas in Nigeria for three years. She starred in The Music Machine – billed as the British Saturday Night Fever – in 1979, and also appeared as a cabaret singer in the 1980 Helen Mirren movie Hussy.
Music
Boulaye's victory on New Faces led to the release of the 1978 album You Stepped into My Life. Prior to this, she had spent a year touring and releasing several singles with a British-based American girl group.
Charity
Boulaye is the founder and president of the charity "Support for Africa Charity",[18] which has built five clinics in rural Africa and a school with HRH Prince Harry's Charity, "Sentebale", in Lesotho.
Politics
In 1999, Boulaye defended Conservative Jeffrey Archer after he made alleged derogatory comments about black Britons. During a radio interview, he stated: "[Three decades ago], your head did not turn if a black woman passed because they were badly dressed, probably overweight and probably had a lousy job." Boulaye defended Archer, stating: "I am talking as a black woman who knows Jeffrey Archer very well ... and he is not a racist. I think he would make a very good mayor."
In the 2000 London Assembly election, Patti Komlosy was placed 13 on the Conservative Party Londonwide list, but was too far down to be elected.
Other work
The 1980s saw an increase in fitness awareness and Boulaye was among the celebrities whose voices featured on the Shape Up and Dance keep-fit albums. In Africa, she was the face of Lux for 29 years, The Patti Boulaye Show was shown on several NTA stations, and in 1999 she was invited to sing for Olusegun Obasanjo during his inauguration. In 2002 Boulaye was appointed to the Entertainment Steering Committee for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, and led 5000 gospel singers down The Mall in the celebrations singing songs including "Celebrate Good News", especially written by Boulaye for the occasion.
Boulaye's autobiography, The Faith of a Child, was published in March 2017.
Libel action
In 1999, Boulaye, then a supporter of the Conservative Party, sued The Guardian for libel after the paper wrongly quoted her as saying "This is a time to support apartheid because it's unfashionable"; she later stated she had been set up by a reporter who claimed to have misheard her when she referred to "a party" (The Conservatives) as opposed to "apartheid". The Guardian was later forced to pay £15,000 in damages.
Personal life
A devout Roman Catholic, Boulaye has two children and two grandchildren with husband Stephen Komlosy.
Discography
●Patti Boulaye (1976) ●You Stepped into My Life (1978) ●The Music Machine (1979) ●Magic (1981) ●Patti (1983) ●In His Kingdom (2004) ●Patti Boulaye's Sun Dance [album] (2004)
This West African Lux ad lasted for 29yrs in Nigeria. It beggers belief. Lever Brothers certainly got their money's worth and milked it dry. It was a different time. I thank God it was good enough to last that long.🙏
naptu2: Sometimes people marvel at what I can remember (e.g. when I tell someone about what he or she did 30 or 40 years ago), but sometimes I marvel at what other people can't remember.
People always mix up these two commercials and I don't know why. Could it be because they were the most popular bodysoap adverts in the early 1980s (Premier was also fantastic, but that was not a body soap at that time) ?
Patti Boulaye is an international actress, singer and model. She attended Holy Child College in Ikoyi before moving to the UK when she was 16. She acted in a lot of British TV shows in the 1970s and '80s (including Dempsey and Makepeace) and she also had her own show in the 1980s.
Patti Boulaye acted in the Lux advert! I repeat, Patti Boulaye acted in the Lux advert!
7:30, 8pm or Saturdays and Sundays in the afternoon.
The Patti Boulaye Show, Tom Jones, The Palace Presents, The Donny And Marie Show, The Flip Wilson Show, Sha Na Na Show, The Grace Kennedy Show, The Morcambe And Wise Show, The Muppet Show, Circus (with Sherrisse Laurence and Carl Dodd).
I still don't know why I can't find any videos of the Patti Boulaye Show on YouTube. I've been looking for it for ages.
naptu2: The episode of the Patti Boulaye Show that I really wanted to post was an episode in which they interviewed James Bond (Roger Moore) and went behind the scenes on a James Bond set.
naptu2: I've found the Bala Miller Show and other Nigerian variety shows, I've found the Grace Kennedy Show and other British variety shows and I've also found The Palace Presents and other American variety shows and so I'm shocked that I've still not been able to find good clips of the Patti Boulaye Show.
Nigerian superstar singer and actress Patti Boulaye was the host of the show and it was shown on Channel 4 in the UK and the on various NTA stations in Nigeria in the 1980s.
When I say very good clips, I mean clips that show the intro or ending of the show ( "See you nest week" )or where she's interviewing people like Roger Moore. This (below) is a clip from the show, but it only shows her singing. I want something that is unique to the show.
Patti Boulaye performs "He's My Guy" on the Patti Boulaye Show.
naptu2: I had a horrendous day yesterday, so I couldn't answer the question about the British-Nigerian actress. I also couldn't find a video of the opening or closing theme of her show, but I did find a video of her singing on the show.
The Patti Boulaye Show was shown on NTA2 Channel 5 in Nigeria and BBC Channel 4 in the UK in the 1980s.
But it's just a little clip and it's not the opening and closing theme (which is what I really want), so you won't hear, "See you nest week".
The Patti Boulaye Show
This is a variety show hosted by British-Nigerian singer, actress and showbiz personality, Patti Boulaye (Patricia Ebigwei). It was shown on the NTA in the mid-1980s. In this clip she is learning some Russian/Cossack dances.
Patricia Ngozi Ebigwei, better known as Patti Boulaye, is a British-Nigerian singer, actress and basically, an all round entertainer.
She grew up in Nigeria (she attended Holy Child College, Ikoyi), but moved to the UK in 1970, when she was 16. She got into entertainment when mistakenly joined a queue for an audition for a part in a play and she got the role.
She has acted on stage, on British television (most famously in Dempsey and Makepeace), in a Nigerian movie (Bisi and the River in the 1970s) and she also very famously acted in the West African Lux advert which appeared on TV for 29 years.
She's also a well known singer and released albums in the 1970s and '80s.
Patti Boulaye had her own variety show (on British and Nigerian television) in the 1980s and this is a clip from the show (I nicknamed her show, "See you nest week" because that's what she says at the end of each episode).
At this stage I was just breaking into both #british and #Nigerian film industries in the 70s and 80s after an amazing and unprecedented launch into showbusiness via the famous West End musical "Hair" Then on to a short spell in modelling "Lux Soap" and television with this hairstyle, making braids glamorous, classy and elegant.
From then on the journey has been fraught with problems, each of them teaching me how to take the next step. Each one, building fortitude and courage in me, teaching me how to be grateful and contented. I guess they also made me loveable.
You can't touch this.
What God has ordained for you, no one but you can alter.🙏🏽
Stay focused, hard working, have faith, be courageous, be positive, never invite the enemy to your table, choose your friends carefully and know your worth as a unique child of God.
It is very important to be in the world, but not of it.
Keep yourself well grounded in body, mind and spirit and no one can touch or make you feel less than, no matter what you are going through.
Never take your eyes off your Father in heaven, every other person around you on earth, is only human.
Thank u naptu2 for this fond memory. This take me back to Soul train in the 70/80,the jazz back then.I remember Boyz 11 men in the 90 too.Those are the days we have sensible music unlike 'Olori buruku ni e they kal music nowadays
Patti Boulaye is currently moving house and she decided to do an exercise video to relieve the stress of moving. She made and posted this video on Friday (2 days ago).
Watch this video, I mean look at this video! Does she look like she is 66 years old??
Happy birthday 🎂 ma.Long life is your heritage. 
