Focus On Mercy Wairegi’s Music Journey : “I Started Singing Using A Maize Cob”

Today we bring to you one of Kenya’s renowned worship gospel singers Mercy Wairegi who is an award winning gospel singer.

(Source Standard Media)

When Was She Born?

She was born in Nakuru Town 28 years ago in a family of two

When Did She Start Singing

She started singing at a tender age of  Five while in Sunday school in the Deliverance Church.

It is at this age that she was inspired by the South African gospel queen Rebecca Malope after watching her performance on TV.

“My mother also used to work at a music shop and she would come home with tapes of popular musicians like Munishi and Mary Atieno, which helped develop my career,” she recalls.

So She Used Maize Cobs In Singing?

She adds, ‘‘I started with practising using a maize cob as the microphone — sometimes climbing on the table to imitate musicians.’’

School Life

She attended Flamingo Primary and Menengai High schools.

Wairegi sang in the children’s choir while in primary school and joined church choir after Form Four.

“After high school, I asked my parents to enroll me to a music college but they refused because they wanted me to do other lucrative careers like medicine, teaching among others. I was then forced to do some manual jobs in Nakuru town to record my songs that I wrote while in Form One,’’ says Mercy.

She graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Purchases and Supplies Management from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).

Music Career

Her first single, Kama sio Wewe, was released in 2007. ‘‘In 2008, I released an audio album called Kama sio Wee with nine songs including, Never be the same Again, Wanipenda , Kama sio Wewe, Hautaniacha, Ila Wewe, Call, Nimetambua, Sina Mwingine, What Peace and another instrumental album,” she says.

While at JKUAT, she used to head worship sessions in conjunction with Nairobi Chapel, which exposed her to singers such as Kanjii Mbugua and Chris Adwar.

This took her to another level of professional and commercial gospel music. Her second album is calledNuru, which was recorded 2011 by Bill Frank and released in 2012.

Her Perspective On Music

‘‘When music is sang and you connect with it, it can move you, change things in your life because it has power in it,’’ she says. However, she says that difficulty in the distribution of the music and piracy are till challenge to many Gospel musicians.