Early
Life
I grew up in a music loving family. Every day at home would begin and end with my parents’ favourite songs. With a mix of Austrian and Nigerian on my mother’s side, and Jamaican (with a splash of Cuban) on my father’s, the array of music I got exposed to was diverse to say the least. Bob Marley, Freddie McGregor, Buju Banton, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Anita Baker, George Benson, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Beethoven (to name but a few) were on rotation morning and night, 7 days a week.
The Christmas after my 10th birthday was when my love of music became an obsession. My sisters and I received a keyboard (from Santa), and from that day on I dedicated all of my free time to teaching myself how to play it. I’d spend hours listening to my favourite Alicia Keys, Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles songs, working out the chords. I’d play them over and over until eventually I started creating my own compositions.
The
Artist
Was
Born
Throughout my teens I’d spend weekends at my Uncle’s house, recording as many of the 5-6 songs I was writing each week as I could. That was the playground where I was free to experiment with different sounds and genres. I’d hear the string arrangements, bass line, brass sections, beats and more in my head, and lay it all down on the keys. Sometimes he’d send me home with a CD full of instrumentals that he’d produced - each one drastically different from the next - for me to write to. These were the years where I developed my love and ability to write to any type of music put in front of me.
The
Great
Experiment