Gospel singer, Noble Nketsiah has shared the pivotal role his colleague, Esther Smith, played in launching his music career.
Nketsiah revealed that, after completing Senior High School, he began selling second-hand clothes to help his mother support his siblings, who were still in school.
Despite his academic brilliance, he was passionate about singing and pursued his dreams, even though his mother had different aspirations for him.
“When I completed secondary school, I had a strained relationship with my mother because she wanted me to further my education and become a doctor. I was very intelligent, so she didn’t understand why I didn’t want to go back to school. Also, my songs reminded her of the issues she had with my dad, so she was trying to stop me from singing.”
“I used to sell second-hand clothes. I had siblings who were also in school, and if my mother sacrificed to take care of me, the least I could do was sell to support her in taking care of the family,” he said.
One day, as Nketsiah was preparing for his day’s business and Esther Smith, who lived in the same neighborhood, heard him singing and was captivated by his voice.
She invited him to the studio to record some songs.
In a surprising turn of events, one of the songs they recorded caught someone’s interest, leading to a major breakthrough in his career.
“I lived in the same estate as Esther Smith and Morris Babyface. One morning, as I was preparing to go and sell my second-hand clothes, Esther Smith passed by and heard me singing. She was amazed by my voice and asked me to follow her to the studio. We recorded a few songs. Not knowing it, someone liked, he paid me a huge sum of money, and that’s how my career started,” he told Emelia Brobbey on the Okukuseku Show.
Nketsiah shared that, he earned about GHC2500.00 from his first song, which was considered a substantial amount at the time.