02-19-2025, 07:26 AM
BENEDICT MURRAY-BRUCE OON (born February 18th, 1956).
Senator Ben Murray-Bruce was born on February 18th, 1956 to Mullighan and Margaret Murray-Bruce. Both his parents were mixed race (half Nigerian, from Akassa in Bayelsa State and half European).
Parents
Ben Bruce's father, William Mullighan Murray-Bruce was an executive with the United African Company (UAC). UAC is a successor of the Royal Niger Company and it was the biggest non-oil company in Nigeria up till the early 1990s.
UAC had many subsidiaries and Mullighan Murray-Bruce worked for Kingsway Stores, the largest chain of chemists, supermarkets and malls in Nigeria at the time.
The children were born in different cities across Nigeria because Mullighan Murray-Bruce was often transfered from city to city.
Upon retirement from Kingsway, he was given some of the underperforming branches as part of his retirement benefit and he founded his own supermarket chain, Domino Stores, using those branches.
Education
Ben Murray-Bruce attended Our Lady of Apostles Private Primary School, Yaba, Lagos from 1962 till 1968. He attended St Gregory's College, Ikoyi, Lagos for his secondary education from 1969 till 1973.
He was the Senior Prefect at St Gregory's College and here his organisational ability and interest in the entertainment industry shone through.
As Senior Prefect, Ben Murray-Bruce was also Chairman of the Harvest Planning Committee and they raised a record amount of ₦400, which was a lot of money in 1973.
The school chaplain, Reverend Father James O'Connel and Ben Murray-Bruce invested the money in musical equipment for the school band. It paid off hugely.
A junior student Melvin Ukachi had approached Ben and asked if he could do some practice with the band. Ben responded in the affirmative. Ukachi and his group later known as Ofege used the school band to wax their first album which sold over one million copies.
Ofege released songs that were well played all over Nigeria and indeed all over Africa and they did this while they were still secondary school students!
Ben Murray-Bruce was interested in entertainment from an early age, but his father didn't always approve of this. He said that his father came into his room one day and saw him dancing and threatened to break his legs if he ever caught him dancing like that again. He said
He attended Simpson College, Indianola Iowa (1975 – 1976); Iowa State University (1976 – 1977); and University of Southern California (1977 – 1979), where he received a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Marketing. He said that he easily got bored and he often changed schools whenever he got bored.
He received his big break in the entertainment industry by accident when he met Louis Smallwood while he was a student at the University of Southern California.
He was sitting at home in California one day when there was a knock on the door. He opened the door and discovered that the person that knocked had gotten the wrong address. However, they had an interesting conversation and Ben Bruce asked the man what he did for a living. The man was a teacher of child stars.
The law said that anyone under the age of 16 had to be educated, but there were child stars like Todd Bridges, Michael Jackson and Gary Coleman who could not attend school because of fame or their schedule. Louis Smallwood taught them at home or at the location where they were working. Mr Smallwood invited Ben Bruce to the set of Sanford and Son, where he was working at that time.
Ben Murray-Bruce got to know very many famous stars in the US entertainment scene of the 1970s through his friendship with Mr Smallwood. He became friends with Joe Jackson (Michael Jackson's father), Dick Griffey (founder of SOLAR Records), Stevie Wonder, Muhammad Ali and other stars.
Photo 1) 7 year old Ben Murray-Bruce with Santa Claus (Father Christmas) a Kingsway
Photo 2) 1969-1973 set of St Gregory's College. In the picture are Ben Murray-Bruce, Olayemi Cardoso, Dr Bode Karunwi, John Wiltshire, Disun Holloway, Stephen Nsolo, Udo Egbo, Osula, Adedipe and Ekpe. Ben Murray-Bruce was the senior prefect.
Photo 3) Ben Murray-Bruce, who was Senior Prefect of St Gregory's College, presenting a present to the Principal of St Gregory's College, Chief Paul Amenechi, in 1973.
Senator Ben Murray-Bruce was born on February 18th, 1956 to Mullighan and Margaret Murray-Bruce. Both his parents were mixed race (half Nigerian, from Akassa in Bayelsa State and half European).
Parents
Ben Bruce's father, William Mullighan Murray-Bruce was an executive with the United African Company (UAC). UAC is a successor of the Royal Niger Company and it was the biggest non-oil company in Nigeria up till the early 1990s.
UAC had many subsidiaries and Mullighan Murray-Bruce worked for Kingsway Stores, the largest chain of chemists, supermarkets and malls in Nigeria at the time.
The children were born in different cities across Nigeria because Mullighan Murray-Bruce was often transfered from city to city.
Upon retirement from Kingsway, he was given some of the underperforming branches as part of his retirement benefit and he founded his own supermarket chain, Domino Stores, using those branches.
Education
Ben Murray-Bruce attended Our Lady of Apostles Private Primary School, Yaba, Lagos from 1962 till 1968. He attended St Gregory's College, Ikoyi, Lagos for his secondary education from 1969 till 1973.
He was the Senior Prefect at St Gregory's College and here his organisational ability and interest in the entertainment industry shone through.
As Senior Prefect, Ben Murray-Bruce was also Chairman of the Harvest Planning Committee and they raised a record amount of ₦400, which was a lot of money in 1973.
The school chaplain, Reverend Father James O'Connel and Ben Murray-Bruce invested the money in musical equipment for the school band. It paid off hugely.
A junior student Melvin Ukachi had approached Ben and asked if he could do some practice with the band. Ben responded in the affirmative. Ukachi and his group later known as Ofege used the school band to wax their first album which sold over one million copies.
Ofege released songs that were well played all over Nigeria and indeed all over Africa and they did this while they were still secondary school students!
Ben Murray-Bruce was interested in entertainment from an early age, but his father didn't always approve of this. He said that his father came into his room one day and saw him dancing and threatened to break his legs if he ever caught him dancing like that again. He said
Quote:One time I was dancing and my father saw me dancing. He said, “If I ever catch you dancing, you’ll never use those legs again.”
He attended Simpson College, Indianola Iowa (1975 – 1976); Iowa State University (1976 – 1977); and University of Southern California (1977 – 1979), where he received a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Marketing. He said that he easily got bored and he often changed schools whenever he got bored.
He received his big break in the entertainment industry by accident when he met Louis Smallwood while he was a student at the University of Southern California.
He was sitting at home in California one day when there was a knock on the door. He opened the door and discovered that the person that knocked had gotten the wrong address. However, they had an interesting conversation and Ben Bruce asked the man what he did for a living. The man was a teacher of child stars.
The law said that anyone under the age of 16 had to be educated, but there were child stars like Todd Bridges, Michael Jackson and Gary Coleman who could not attend school because of fame or their schedule. Louis Smallwood taught them at home or at the location where they were working. Mr Smallwood invited Ben Bruce to the set of Sanford and Son, where he was working at that time.
Ben Murray-Bruce got to know very many famous stars in the US entertainment scene of the 1970s through his friendship with Mr Smallwood. He became friends with Joe Jackson (Michael Jackson's father), Dick Griffey (founder of SOLAR Records), Stevie Wonder, Muhammad Ali and other stars.
Photo 1) 7 year old Ben Murray-Bruce with Santa Claus (Father Christmas) a Kingsway
Photo 2) 1969-1973 set of St Gregory's College. In the picture are Ben Murray-Bruce, Olayemi Cardoso, Dr Bode Karunwi, John Wiltshire, Disun Holloway, Stephen Nsolo, Udo Egbo, Osula, Adedipe and Ekpe. Ben Murray-Bruce was the senior prefect.
Photo 3) Ben Murray-Bruce, who was Senior Prefect of St Gregory's College, presenting a present to the Principal of St Gregory's College, Chief Paul Amenechi, in 1973.
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