I am what you get when you cross an artist and a soldier.
Talented? Yes. Able to shoot a can off of a fence at forty paces? Yes, that too.
I grew up in a house where music was ALWAYS playing. My mother, who grew up in Sierra Leone, introduced me to King Sunny Ade, Fela Kuti and Hugh Masekela when I was in diapers. My father, a native of St. Louis, taught me how to whistle to Isaac Hayes, Bill Withers and Billy Preston.
Both parents could sing, as could my older sister. And as in most families, each sibling was given a clear role; my sister was the singer, and I was the writer.
So for years, I stuck to that - until I started college at Marquette University.
There, I met Rev. Barry Ward - who was starting a gospel choir at the school. And from that point on, my future always involved music.
While at MU, I met and became good friends with a young man named Adi. Unbeknownst to either one of us, we would be doing music together.
Rev. Ward showed me, often through brute force, that I had a voice. And after wiping away the tears and applying ice to my bruises, I saw the light.
Or maybe that was just a mild concussion.
But I digress.
I soon studied jazz vocals at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, under the tutelage of Adekola Adedapo.
In 1993, I joined a group of MCs called Growing Nation, and contributed some vocals to their tracks. After a couple of years, the group evolved into a live band - complete with a two lead vocalists (myself and Adi), a poet, an MC and background vocals.
With Growing Nation, I was blessed to perform in New York, Martha's Vineyard, Chicago and Atlanta. We have opened for The Isley Brothers, Angie Stone, Charlie Wilson and Talib Kweli.
I am currently working on a solo project. Working titles include:
"High-Ass Medical Premiums", or "Starbucks Addiction"
