Christy Essien-Igbokwe began performing as a teenager on NTA Aba’s Now Sound and Ukaonu’s Club, and released her debut album, Freedom, in 1977. She went on to release nine more albums by the early 1990s, with her 1981 record, Ever Liked My Person?, becoming a nationwide hit.

She also starred in the sitcom, The New Masquerade, in 1976 and appeared in early Nollywood films such as Flesh and Blood, and Scars of Womanhood, which tackled taboo issues like child abuse and female circumcision. Essien-Igbokwe was a founding member of the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN), and later became its first female president.