A 21-year-old rising Nigerian-born British singer and son of a pastor, Samm Henshaw has confessed that he was rebellious and anti-religious when he was growing under his parents.
“I hated it growing up as I felt that the choice to believe in God was not my own and also felt pressured to behave in a way that I did not want to behave. As a result, I became very rebellious and was very anti-religion until I decided to find God for myself and start building my own relationship with Him and allowing my beliefs and my faith to be my own choice, as opposed to it being force-fed down my throat.”
In an interview with The Voice, Samm said that his parents were not overly strict on him, saying: “looking back, they were just loving and caring but disciplined me where I needed to be disciplined. And yes, I do consider myself a Christian; I do believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins and I am also definitely a work in progress!
The rising musician admitted that his parents and other family members supported his decision to pursue a career in music, saying: “my family is supportive of anything, as long as it’s wholesome and not negative or demeaning. They also saw I was gifted in the area of music and so definitely encouraged me to pursue it.
The musician who recently completed a BA (Hons) in Popular Music Performance, said:”I grew up on mainly gospel so artists like Kirk Franklin, Alvin Slaughter, Helen Baylor, Ron Kenolly, Fred Hammond and other gospel greats. Also more mainstream acts like Michael Jackson, the Spice Girls and Nsync.
He said that his Nigerian heritage shapes him in his day-to-day life, “from the food I eat to the jokes I tell. I’m very much in tune with my heritage and I love being Nigerian. We have the best banter in my opinion!” [myad]
