I come from an artistic family. My mum is a gospel recording artist, my kid brother is a recording artist and music producer, and my sister plays the guitar and sings as well. When I was much younger, my mum would sit with me and my siblings on days she had off from work and play the guitar while she sang us one of her many songs. I consider my mum to be my first musical inspiration.
At the age of 21, in my third year of college, I started writing my own music. Mainly love songs, inspired by my relationships at the time. My voice and lyrics managed to catch the attention of my friends and the people around me, who started suggesting that I should consider auditioning for singing competitions.
I joined my local church choir where I gained more experience with music, and more people pushed me to audition for talent shows.
Before The Voice, I auditioned for another popular West African talent show called Project Fame. I made it through the first round of auditions but was unsuccessful later at the TV auditions.
My success at the blind auditions for The Voice was a dream. I got three turns where I thought I might just get one or at most two. I had a lot of support from my family and friends while on the show and made it to the top two.
One funny thing that happened was that the winner and me, the first runner up, had been roommates since the start of the show. We always told each other we would make it to the finals. We would wake up and do voice training together, workout together and even pray together. So it was really exciting when we were announced as winner and first runner up.
One of the downsides to being on TV is that it leaves you vulnerable to all forms of criticism. Nevertheless, it was amazing doing what I love to do in front of thousands of people.