Akwaboah

Gladstorm Kwabena Akwaboah Jnr is now better known simply as Akwaboah Jnr, has come a long way from a simple guy from a small town to one of Ghana's best songwriters. 

He was born and living most of the time in Mampong Beposo, located in the Ashanti region. Although this city is nothing special, it is still famous for its Senior High School. As a child, Akwaboah Jnr grew up in a musical environment and had a relatively modest character. His father, Kwadwo Akwaboah, was already a famous Highlife artist at the time and was well known in professional music circles.  

Akwaboah Jnr himself quickly began to show a flair for music, although, at that time, he did not understand it. At the age of 10 he began to write his own songs, and although they were very simple, the boy liked this activity so much that he continued to actively develop this skill. His interest in music grew with each passing year, and later, in addition to writing songs, he became interested in musical instruments. First of all, he wanted to master playing the keys, and today this instrument remains his main. Over the next few years, Akwaboah actively studied keyboard playing, and today he can be called one of the best keyboardists in Ghana.  

His attention was continually shifting from writing songs to developing keyboards, and he finally decided to turn his skills into a profession. Officially, the beginning of his musical career can be called 2008 - 2009. In those years, Akwaboah began to write songs for already famous artists, and it was this talent that helped him achieve popularity. 

The most significant breakthrough in his career was writing the song "Daa Ke Daa" for singer and actress Becca. This song has gained immense popularity in Ghana and even won an award at the prestigious Ghana Music Awards. 

A similar story happened with the song "Ayeyi Ndwom", which Akwaboah wrote for DSP Kofi Sarpong. At the 2010 Ghana Music Awards, Akwaboah won the award as “Songwriter of the Year”.  

After such a strong start, many artists wanted to use the services of Akwaboah, which gladly agreed at first. While working in the music business, he learned not only to write songs and play keyboards but also to produce songs. The more Akwaboah wrote songs for other people, the less he wanted to keep doing it. This was caused both by the financial side because the songwriter in Ghana receives a reasonably small salary, and by his desire to create songs for himself and later become a full-fledged solo artist. To achieve this goal, he had to sign a contract with a recording studio. Finally, in 2016 Akwaboah signed a contract with Sarkcess Music, owned by the famous Ghanaian musician Sarkodie. 

This cooperation was mutual. Sarkodie helped advance his solo career, while Akwaboah himself co-produced Sarkodie's fourth album, “Mary”. Officially, Akwaboah's first single called "I Do Love You" was released in 2016, and even though it was only his first song, it gained quite a lot of popularity. The next single, called "Hello" he performed with Sarkodie, only once again confirmed the talent of the novice solo artist, which gave him confidence and significantly expanded his plans for the future in his music career. The last single that Akwaboah will record with Sarkcess Music was Naadu. This song clearly showed the change of the usual Highlife style to a more personal and unique one. Its main feature was the combination of dance motifs with lyrical lyrics and melodic vocals.  

All these signals were followed by a logical sequel, namely the release of his first solo album called "Matters of the Heart," which was released in 2018. The album contained 12 songs with a total length of 50 minutes. Almost the entire album was performed in a subtle combination of genres such as highlife, pop, afrobeat, soul, and R&B. 4 songs from the album were performed in collaboration with other artists such as Sarkodie, Strongman, Efya, Txt, and Seyi Shay. In general, the album received positive reviews from critics, but it was even better received by connoisseurs of the highlife genre. 

After working with Sarkcess Music for almost 2 years and gaining the necessary experience, Akwaboah decided to take the next step in his music career and created his own music label called Akwaboah Music. It was with the launch of his music label that he became more active in writing new songs. Singles such as "Mafutusem" and "Gangsta Lovin" were the first in line. Although these were the first two singles under his label, they came out with an interval of a whole year. The fact is that Akwaboah has spent this time on some other projects and the maximum improvement of Akwaboah Music. "Gangsta Lovin" is currently one of Akwaboah's most famous songs, along with his debut single "I Do Love You" and "Posti Me", which was released in 2012.  

In total, Akwaboah has released 11 singles under his label in 2 years and has collaborated with many artists, such as Kgee, Nautyca, Abdul, Pharmace, Eno Barony, Dada Hafco, Yaw Sarpong, and others. Akwaboah himself has repeatedly mentioned that he does not want to make songs for the mass consumer but is aimed at fans of real highlife music. As time has shown, this approach has really benefited the artist and provided Akwaboah with its reliable fan base, which is looking forward to the release of his new songs.  

In 2020, Akwaboah became even more immersed in songwriting and spent most of his time at home. Of course, the pandemic had a substantial impact on almost the entire population of the planet, and musicians were no exception. It was especially tough for those who earned their living by live performances. Akwaboah was among those who loved live performances and concerts, but he understood that he would have to adapt to new realities. That's why he delved much deeper into the songwriting process, which is why most of his singles were released in 2020. Also, in 2020, a remix of his father's song was released, entitled "Awerekyekyere", which he performed with him.  

In general, by the beginning of 2021, Akwaboah had already released a live performance of his song "Mesan Agye Wo", which quickly became popular. A lyrical song with a beautiful melody did not leave indifferent most fans of highlife music. Akwaboah continues to actively develop its label in order to help other young talents find their place in the music business in the future.