LAST year, R&B musician Chemphe, who is now a pastor, disclosed that he was making a switch from secular to Gospel music.
While he must have had good reasons for doing so, making it to heaven was definitely not one of the reasons why he took that step.
According to Chemphe, who came to fame with R&B songs such as Why, No Pampanaa and Left Overs, it was wrong for anyone to assume that Gospel artistes and those who mentioned the name of God in their songs were bound for heaven.
In a telephone interview with Graphic Showbiz, he said it shouldn’t be a wonder to people that he was doing Gospel music since even his R&B songs had “messages about the character of Christ”.
“Nothing changed or has changed about my music. I’ve always been a Christian artiste because not everyone who mentions the name of God is elected for heaven.
“When you check my old songs, they had messages of the character of Christ and so not mentioning God in my songs didn’t make it secular. Besides, there’s so much to be explained on what Gospel music is,” he stated.
In his over a decade-old career, the singer had treated people to good messages in his songs and disclosed how his confidence had grown since finding himself in a better position to do what God wanted him to do now.
Since releasing his debut Gospel song, Me Do Yesu last year, Chemphe has not been too active and he revealed how a number of factors beyond his control had delayed plans.
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“I lost my mum when I was about dropping my second single so I waited till after the funeral. But that is not to say I have been idle because I’ve been ministering in churches and at various programmes.
“I know it’s been quite sometime but I’m working on a new project which is ready to hit the airwaves because I also had to wait on God to direct me on my next release.
“As I speak with you, I’m in the studios working with my band for the last song for my next album. I assure you that there won’t be any break once I start releasing them,” he stated.
Chemphe, real name Henry Agyekum-Chemphe, joins a number of secular artistes including Lord kenya and Yaw Siki, who have switched to Gospel music.
Even though such a move have been mostly thought to be because of the “grace to grass” status concerning the careers of these artistes, The One People singer said he doesn’t pay attention to negative comments.
“I didn’t make a switch because my career was not flourishing. That is far from the truth and I won’t begrudge those who hold such opinions because most of the leading artistes like Nii Okai, Cwesi Oteng, Akesse Brempong, Eugene Zuta and many others have embraced me with love and not judgement.
“Other people have equally done same but honestly, I do not pay attention to who accept me or not for it is not unto man to do this but Christ who called me to this cause,” he said.
Chemphe who is presently a pastor at Impact House in Tema said there’s no better life for him than what he is currently doing adding “it’s has been long overdue”.