Ghanaian Gospel music legend, Esther Smith has recalled efforts made by Hiplife star Kontihene to get her an executive producer after hearing her debut album.
The 10-track tape titled ‘Gye No Di’ (Believe in God) was released in the year 2000 and became an instant hit, giving the singer national acclaim and awards.
After recording ‘Gye No Di’ with Morris Babyface at Hit Digital Studio, “I was looking for a producer. It wasn’t easy for me at that time,” she said.
“Eventually, when the executive producer came to the studio to hear the record, they said, ‘If I don’t promote this, I will never prosper’.”
“Before this financial breakthrough, Kontihene had gone to hear the music and taken it to Megastar. He said the moment he heard Morris Babyface play the music in the studio, he was overcomed by it.”
Esther Smith
She stated, that despite the rapper’s efforts, however, Megastar did not give the anticipated support.
Going back to the resourceful executive producer she secured, without providing a name, she said, “He put out the record two days after he received it.”
“One day, I was going about my usual business when I heard Abeiku Santana playing the music on the radio,” Esther Smith said, adding she was stunned.
Previously, she had not come to the capital city Accra before, “being a Kumasi girl,” she said. When she and her team came to the capital “via a bus,” and stopped at Peace FM, Mile 7, Achimota, she could not believe her ears as “everywhere we turned, they were playing the songs”.
These events, she revealed, moved her to pen her 2002 hit ‘Onyame Ben Ni’ (Wonderful God) to celebrate how God can suddenly turn someone’s life around for good.
God had exceeded her expectations, “Since I thought I was only going to have music success in Kejetia, Kumasi,” the UK-based Ghanaian music legend said.
Music Legend Reveals How Her Mother Tried Aborting Her
Esther Smith revealed that she was nearly aborted by her mother.
The multiple award-winning singer-songwriter responded to the question if she regarded her musical abilities as a thing of divine endowment or human skill.
“At 8, I was with a Methodist choir full of my mother’s age mates. Despite my age, I had a mature voice to sing alto. This, and other things, tells me I was born with this talent.”
Esther Smith
In an unforeseen twist to the conversation, the Kumasi-born Gospel music legend recalled a divine prediction made about her life after her mother attempted to abort her.
“My mother was a schoolgirl when she became pregnant with me, I’m her eldest child. She nearly aborted me at the Okomfo Anokye Teaching Hospital because she was petrified of her father’s reaction to the pregnancy.”
Esther Smith
She noted her mother, Yaa, was the only child of her parents.
“While she was on her way to the hospital to abort her child, her mother’s sibling met her and intervened,” Esther Smith added.
According to the UK-based singer, her mother took different kinds of medication to abort her pregnancy but it all failed.
She said a pastor told her mother “The child in your womb, will become resourceful to Ghana” even though he did not specify the means.
“It was when God started elevating me that my mother revealed these things to me. I told my mother, that if she had aborted me, I would have taken her life also.”
Esther Smith
Esther Smith has countless hit songs of conviction, admonishment, and motivation. She has utilized genres like Highlife, Jazz, R&B, hip-hop, and Reggae to convey her Christian messages.
After 10 years abroad, she has returned to Ghana with the Esther Smith Live Concert. After a successful Kumasi edition, part two of the concert takes place at the Perez Dome, Perez Chapel International, Dzorwulu, Accra, on Friday, August 30.
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