Looking quite
robust, relaxed and
remarkably attractive than
few years ago when she was
battling with emotional
trauma caused by her broken
marriage, gospel act, Kenny
St Brown insists she would
not take any question
relating to her crashed
marriage. Holed up in her
cosy, sparsely furnished
Lagos apartment for
sometime now, the sultry
gospel sensation appears
determined to rid her once
heavy heart of thoughts
regarding her failed
marriage with fellow
musician, Eddy Montana.
Yet she savours the exciting
company of her two lovely
kids, whose framed picture
on the center table smiles at
you as you wait in her sitting
room. “We can talk about
anything, but please don't ask
me about my marriage, ” she
warned as she sat gently on a
plastic chair under a mango
tree directly opposite her
apartment.
But more importantly, she
would love to speak about her
latest album, 'Turn Around',
especially the significant
impact it made in the music
career of the late hip hop
star, Dagrin, who featured in
one of the twelve songs in
the album.
According to her, Dagrin's
meteoric rise to fame before
and after his death was
largely influenced by the
song. “Turn Around is a
connection of powerful
prayer points from A to Z. It
was produced at the time
Dagrin was looking for
prominence and all his
prayers in that song were
answered. In the song, he
asked God for fame, he asked
for money and wanted to be a
widely celebrated rapper.
''All his requests were
granted as he soon had money
and became a celebrated
rapper. Unfortunately, he did
not ask for long life, he did
not ask God for safety. If he
did, I believe he would have
lived longer. After his death
God revealed this to me and I
went back to the song and
realised it was true. ”
Love life
It is not what I would like to
talk about. Right now, I'm in
love with my career. I don't
even think about it. It doesn't
even come up in my prayer
points. Maybe because of
what I suffered in the past. It
wasn't funny. I found my
career totally threatened.
Even my church that was
supposed to be my succour
compounded my problem.
They removed me from the
list of artists and told
members to stop inviting me
to events. I went to events
and found my name totally
absent and when I asked the
people in charge, they would
say it was the church that
asked them to do so. It was so
bad that at a point I
considered going into
business. But God spoke to
me. He said, 'I'm the one who
called you to church from the
world. If the church has
rejected you, the radio and
TV will accept you.'
Gradually, I started putting
myself together and I thank
God who has given me a turn
around.
Shift to club, party songs
I have rebranded from doing
the typical church praise and
worship gospel songs to more
contemporary club compliant,
party acceptable songs. It is
like a total revolution for me.
It is a rebranding in terms of
content, style and target
audience. You don't expect
me to do 'you are worthy
worthy' I did 11 years ago
because it can no longer
satisfy the audience of
today. It is necessary to do
this in order to meet the
current demands of the
Nigeria music market.
Delay album release
It took time for me to release
the last album because my
own kind of music is very
peculiar. I deal with real life
situations, real experiences,
real circumstances and all
that. I'm not like some artists
that will find somebody to
write for them and then use
their image to present it to
the world. My work is a
creative work in which I am
conditioned to meet strict
conditions in terms of
content theme and messages
that must be delivered the
way music is being delivered
now. There is a compelling
need to create content for
radio and TV where, at a
time, there was no
representation for the gospel
so there is a vacuum to be
filled with contemporary
gospel songs. So, all this is
responsible for the delay
because if you look at Turn
Around, you will agree with
me that there is flow,
emotional connection and
fluidity from the first track
to the last.
Dagrin
Actually it was Sheyma, the
producer of 'Turn Around'
that brought us together. But
I would say it was destiny
that brought us together.
Though the first time I
encountered him was two
years earlier when I
conducted a talent hunt, in
which he made a semi final.
But destiny later broug us
together because it was at
the time I wanted a turn
around in my career and he
too was looking for
prominence. At that time he
was always with Sheyma to
feature in the albums of
some of the notable artists
he was producing then. At
first I was wondering what
contribution would someone
like Dagrin make to my kind
of music. But I was shocked
when he started delivering
his songs. He even had more
prayer points than me. It was
then I knew that the boy
really believed in God. He
believed that it was only God
who could do it for him and
God answered all his
prayers. Turn Around video
came out before he released
Pon Pon. It was all his wishes
in Turn Around that were
eventually granted even
though he had a death wish
hanging on him which
reflects in his 'If I die'. But
he touched more lives after
death than when he was
alive.
Family influence
My elder brother, Keke is
into entertainment
journalism while I'm a gospel
singer. We all have our
individual calling within
entertainment. I would say
my music talent comes from
my mother ’s lineage because
I can remember my mum's
elder brother was a DJ back
in Ago Iwoye, our home town.
He was always busy from
Monday to Monday and we
were following him to
naming, wedding and burial
ceremonies in Ago Iwoye in
the 60s, 70s till 80s. My
mother has a very strong
voice. My sister Moji Dokpesi
has a good soprano voice. My
father was an educationist
and an evangelist. So I would
say the gospel part of me is
from my father.
Advice to single ladies
Don't get too desperate for
marriage no matter the
situation you find yourself
because it can make men take
you for granted. You don't
even have to make it
prominent on your prayer
points because the more you
do so, the more desperate
you become and this can put
men off. Just be calm and
always make yourself
attractive to men in terms of
character, physical
appearance and your general
conducts. It is better for a
man to get desperate than
for a woman to get
desperate
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