Ghanaian secular musicians who used to sing in the Church before going commercial

Most artistes in the world develop and nurture their singing abilities in churches, and Ghanaian musicians are no exception to this. This practise is very common among Gospel musicians and they even continue to sing in the church and play gigs in churches after rising to prominence.

This article seeks to throw light on some of the secular musicians in Ghana who used to sing in the church, or used be a member of a church choir before going commercial with their talent. This post has been limited to secular musicians because we will have a very tall list if we include Gospel musicians.

George Kwabena Adu (Kwabena Kwabena)

Kwabena Kwabena realized he could achieve some feat in the music circles, so he started playing the guitar in church at the age of 14 and he also led the church choir. He then started hanging around Hush Hush studios featuring on various songs. He got introduced to Hammer of the Last 2.

The contemporary highlife musician emerged after featuring Kontihene’s 2004 hit, Esi. He also featured Kontihene on his own debut hit, Aso. Kwabena Kwabena has paid his dues as far as highlife music is concerned.

Rebecca Akosua Acheampong (BECCA)

Known as Becca in Ghanaian music scenes, Rebecca Akosua Acheampomaa was quite active in church and school activities during her childhood days. She started her career with her church singing group and later gradually transitioned into becoming a great singer of the denomination.

The Ghanaian singer and songwriter first gained recognition as a contestant on the second season of TV3’s annual singing competition Mentor. She earned five nominations at the 2008 Ghana Music Awards through her album’s lead single “You Lied to Me”.

Eugene Kwame Marfo (Kuami Eugene)

Kuami Eugene’s interest in music led him to sing in the church from a very young age where he also learnt how to play the drum, keyboard and guitar. He dropped out of school because of his love for music. He spent some months studying music in a studio located in the Eastern Region without informing his parents and school authorities.

Kuami Eugene was expelled from his school Salvation Army Senior High school located at Akim- Wenchi after it was discovered that he left without anybody’s notice. He actually released several gospel songs before venturing into Highlife. He is known for tracks such as Confession, Angela.

Dennis Nana Dwamena (KiDi)

The former Accra Academy student, Kidi, started his career gradually in the church until 2015 when he leapt faith by joining the MTN Hitmaker competition. KiDi shot to prominence in 2017 when he released “Say You Love Me”, a song he did not only composed but also arranged and produced.

KiDi established himself as one of the fastest rising stars in Ghana when he released yet another song titled “Odo” in July 2017, the remix with Nigerian artist Davido and Mayorkun in December 2017, and Adiepena in April 2018.

Emmanuel Andrews Samini (Samini)

Samini started singing in a church choir at the age of 14 and became a professional musician after a musical collaboration with another musician in 1999. Samini’s success and recognition began when his first single, Linda, was released and subsequently appearing on other successful singles by other artists. He has won a lot of awards since he joined the music industry. Samini’s transformation from singing in the church to advocating for marijuana legalisation is very huge.

Kurl Songx

The Jennifer Lomotey singer is a music director at his church and that is where he started with his music career. Despite releasing his hit song “Jennifer Lomotey” which was considered secular in the Christian circles, He remains the music director of the church. His Jennifer Lomotey song received massive airplay and went viral, and even sparked some controversy in certain parts of the country.

Adina Thembi Ndamse  (Adina)

Adina started singing at church when she was a young girl. She shot to prominence in the Ghana music scene when she competed in the music reality show ‘Stars of the Future’, organised by Charter House Ghana and eventually became the winner. Her eighth music single titled “Too Late” won her two awards which were the Record of the Year and Best Female Vocalist of the Year at the 2018 Ghana Music Awards.