BUY MUSIC and BOOKS Click here

News | Events  | Team | Advertising

Yinka Awojobi

London based hiphop artist and writer - get Updates!

CD SPOTLIGHT

Faith Child
'IllumiNATION'

Buy Faith Child 'IllumiNATION

NOW AVAILABLE!

Ted Jiboye:
'You Are The One'
iTunesAmazon

Visit website

then sad... The E.P is eclectic because there's something on there for any type of person.

Favourite track on the EP...?
That's a hard one. I know this may sound corny, but I like everything on the EP.

Yeah... Well, I'm still gonna press you for one track...
Well, if I was to be unbiased, I would say 'LOVE' because of its uniqueness.

Uniqueness..? Explain.
We had 7 singers (Tula Lynch, Christine Joda, Chan Melodies, Marsha Garrick, Junior Garr, Frank Ademoye, Tekiva Ledwidge).

The brief was for them to write their verses around the theme of love. They then recorded their parts - mainly at different times - in the studio. I have never heard of 7 singers sing or do a track that is in a multi-artist, Garage type format, which is what we did...

COLLABORATION
Collaboration and the showcasing other peoples' skills and talent is a running theme in Simply Andy's world.

You're a producer, but you turned to Victizzle for the beat on Bibles Bibles, for example. Why do you do that?

I believe that everyone has a calling and mine is to bring people together in the name of Jesus.

Based on 1 Corinthians 12 the bible talks about how we are all one body so I guess you could say that I collaborate with sooooo many brothers and sisters in the system just to prove that we can and should be a family

  I'm unsure people really appreciate your talent range and
  multiplicity: producer, songwriter, singer, rapper and more.
  How do YOU define yourself, though..?

  WOW. Thank you!! In the book of Philippians, Paul says
  he can do all things through Christ.

  That is a scripture that I live with and as a result, I have no
  boundaries just like my Father.

  I can't define myself. I become whatever to the get the job
  done... None of this is possible without God...

Speaking of 'no boundaries', it's probably a good time to mention your one-man show 'The Adventures of Simply Andy'...
...A night where you will be taken on a journey through various art forms; music, comedy, dance and drama.

Indeed. Why the need to put on this kind of show?
In Christendom, we have our usual gospel weekend shows, album launches but never have we had such an event where I will be on the stage doing stand up, audience participation. It’s unique in our circle.

You will experience an unforgettable night of laughter,
record-breaking music, flawless moves and much
more.

You worked hard on presenting it as a high-quality
event. That much was quite obvious: full multimedia
experience with the mix of music, video, stand
up and performance.

Why was it important to vary it that much...?
I thank God for wisdom. One thing that He
opened my eyes to the fact that every audience is
diverse, so you need to cater for each member.

The team and I wanted to give everyone an experience
from the moment they entered to their exits so we tried
to cover each angle.

Ultimately, we wanted to give people their money's
worth.
 
How well did the night go for you...?
All I can say is THANK YOU LORD. I enjoyed every minute of it. It’s a bit funny because the night was full of improvisation, the audience saw everything as it happened - I can’t wait to see the DVD.
 
Were you surprised that there was pretty much a full house in the Mermaid Theatre?
Surprised? INDEED. We had pre-sold a lot of tickets, but I was always nervous about the place being packed, or if the venue was too
big.

I came in and saw there were more
people than I had anticipated.

I was very shocked because there
were that many people there so
early in the night.
 
You improvised a lot, which added to
the energy and spontaneity of things.

How much of it was you just vibing
off events unfolding...?
Let’s just say that two weeks before, my team kept on asking me if I had the material prepared and I kept on telling them that it would be okay.

I had rehearsals with the band and the dancers. That was it.

I remember when I heard my name being called by the Master Apps – The Announcer...
That’s when it hit me. All I prepared for the night was to check to see where and how far the audience had travelled from, and the rest, I would leave up to GOD.

It was so crazy that 50 minutes later, I was still on stage. TRULY, GLORY TO GOD.
 
And it's worth pointing out that stand-up can be clean and funny...  
Ohhh yesss. But it is very challenging when everything around you from the media to the work place is negative. As cliché as it may sound, I thank God for allowing me to see the funny things in life.
 
The event was accessible to non-Christians (even though you really did take it to church in the West African Praise & Worship session)...
Ultimately, the Gospel isn’t for the saved. Once saved, we are meant to 'go out' and that’s exactly what we did. Our marketing wasn’t just targeted at Christians but whoever wanted a night of good clean comedy, record breaking music, fun, laughter, surprises.

So, what’s next for Simply Andy? 
I wait on the Lord to renew my strength [laughs]…. 12Twelve Productions have a lot in the pipeline. 'Simply Sundays' is coming a Sunday near you. And oh yeah, The Adventure continues…

PLEASE I ASK THAT YOU GUYS CONTINUE SUPPORTING BECAUSE THERES NO POINT PUTTING THE SHOWS ON IF YOU DON’T TURN UP.

I take this opportunity to thank everyone that came out and supported the show from the beginning: all the members of 12Twelve Productions, Adlib, Next Level Events, AMBTv, UKGospel.com, Uncle Muyiwa – Premier Radio, Uncle Dave P – Choice FM, Voice of Africa Radio, Yomz, Nat, Slash Jones, CREATIVE PIECE, JBL Radio, Zeal Jewellery, Fresstyle Grafix, Hackney Gazzette, The Voice Newspaper, Bossman Lucas and everyone else that I cannot remember right now.

Finally: one thing about Simply Andy that people will never know unless you actually told them:
I am mixed race but not light skinned.

SUPPORTING CAST: The Andettes The Andymen

Muyiwa and Riversongz - Declaring His Name All Around The World - Get It from Amazon!