KevinBahati
manage to sponsor him through secondary school – well, almost. After sitting his exams, he discovered that his sponsors could no longer afford to pay his school fees. For a time, the spectre of destitution came back to haunt him. “I nearly went on the streets. But I was offered a place at St Teresa’s Boys, East Leigh. I was lucky. I was able to continue with my secondary education and get a C-plus grade.” And he was luckier still when St Teresa’s put him on the stage at the National Music Festival and set him on the road to fame. “My teachers were amazed at the reception I got and so was I. But then I decided that I would hone my talent. I decided that music was the only way out of a hard life for me – it was do or die.”
Watching Kevin interviewed on Kenyan TV is a revelation. He speaks mostly in Swahili, but his conversation is peppered with the odd English word: ‘forgiveness’, ‘love’, ‘hope’ and ‘survival’. When he can’t express himself in either language, he bursts into unaccompanied song. There is nothing of the showman about Kevin, however. He is simply the pure embodiment of faith. Where does he see himself in five years’ time? Kevin says he wants to succeed in the music industry, to bring good music to East Africa and go to college and study radio produc-
Orphan Kevin has done very well, and looks set to do even better. But he never forgets his past. His hit single ‘Mama’ tells the story of his life as an orphan. The video that accompanies it was filmed on the streets of Mathari and it doesn’t pull any punches. Forget glitz and glam. Kevin sings against a backdrop of corrugated iron, piles of rubbish and burnt-out cars – but the purity of his voice and the sincerity of his words transcends it all. “I sang that song from deep in my heart in dedication to my mum, who left me when I was only in Class 1.”
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tion. He would also, he admits, like a Mercedes-Benz. But, more than all this, he wants to stay in touch with the ABC Children’s Home. “They took me in when I had nowhere to sleep, nothing to eat and nobody to care for me. And I want other boys to have the same faith in tomorrow. I want them to know that anything can happen, like it happened to me.”
Surprised Best artist Feel the emotion
When he accepted his latest award for Best Male Artist at the Groove Awards, Kevin’s fans were surprised to see that he was wearing exactly the same suit he had worn the year before. It wasn’t easy to forget – brilliant orange with a starburst explosion down both lapels. “Why did you wear the same suit?” the interviewer asked. “I wanted God to know that I’m the same Kevin Bahati as I was last year,” said the up-and-coming star. No surprise there. Kevin Bahati has a mantra that drives him forward: ‘As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he’. The Safaricom-sponsored Groove Awards is Kenya’s premier gospel music event. It is dedicated to promoting, exposing and celebrating gospel talent in Kenya and Africa.