I wanted to be like Daddy Showkey, I started music in church – Don Jazzy

Veteran Nigerian producer and singer, Michael Collins Ajereh, aka Don Jazzy, has revealed that legendary musician, Daddy Showkey was his role model while growing up in Ajegunle, Lagos.

He said he was inspired by Daddy Showkey and Baba Fryo to do music.

Don Jazzy said he started his music career in the church as an instrumentalist because he couldn’t afford studio sessions then.

The music executive disclosed this while featuring as a guest on the latest episode of the Leaderboard podcast hosted by Fisayo Fosudo.

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He said, “My music inspiration started from Ajegunle because dem Daddy Showkey, dem Baba Fryo, a lot of all these Ajegunle musicians that we looked up to.

“I used to tell my guys that when I started making music, I pretty much just wanted to blow and be Daddy Showkey because anywhere you went to in the country, you will hear, ‘If you see my mama, hosanna’ or ‘Somebody call my name, Showkey.’

“Trust me, the lyrics are national anthems. I pretty much wanted to do that. So, I used to go to church and play instruments. It was the only place that you can…Unless you want to go to studios which would cost money.

At that time, we couldn’t afford to have sessions. So, the best place that you can get free equipment is the church. Instead of doing the ragga, the reggae, you go and do gospel first.”