Lara George is a popular gospel artiste. She spoke with our reporter on her music career, family and more.
Your last album was titled Higher; what are you working on presently?
Like you said my latest album is titled ‘Higher’. I just shot three videos from it. I released the Dansaki video in November and I just released ‘A New Day’ and ‘Ayino’. So, I am working on promoting those right now. This year, I am looking forward to shooting new videos from the album ‘Higher’ and I am also starting work on a new album even though I don’t know when I would be releasing it.
So it is going to be a produce and keep album?
I lost out on a year when I was recording that the Higher album because I did it while I was pregnant. Unfortunately, I had to deal with my dad passing away. He fell very ill and in a six month period I lost a lot. Between childbirth and losing my dad I lost a year which was supposed to be used working on the album.
I am going to start working on the new album soon, I am writing new songs. I don’t know when I will be releasing the new songs yet because there is still so much in the current album that I haven’t put out yet.
Kush was never a gospel group and a lot of people wonder why you opted for the genre when you went solo
I am still very much the same person who I was when I was with Kush. The idea of Kush was to be an inspirational group, we wanted the songs that we did at that time to give people the God perspective of things, but we also wanted to be able to appeal to everybody with our style of music which is the same philosophy I as Lara George also have. I want to be able to reach everybody with my music. The only difference with me was that when I released my first album one of the strongest songs on that album was ‘Ijoba Orun’ and because of that I sort of became more of a gospel artiste. I still do a lot of very inspirational songs. My song even though I have a lot that are very praise and worship and towards God directed kind of songs, I still have songs that I sing for people that you can listen to and enjoy and will still give them a more positive outlook to life and a broad perspective of things. So, I have always been this way right from my Kush days. My music has always been like this and if you noticed the Kush songs were always filled with spirituality because all three of us at that time had the same philosophy.
As Kush who spearheaded the group?
Every one of us, each one of us had our talent which we brought to the table. Emen was the business woman in the team, TY was creative and so am I.
What led to the breakup of Kush?
The end of Kush was very traumatic for all of us because it was a difficult time for all three of us and Kush happened at a time when the new Nigerian music industry was starting to happen and at the same time the new Nigerian millionaires were just emerging. So, prior to Kush we didn’t have a lot of people who were paying N1, 000, 000; 00 or N500, 000, 00 or N100, 000; 00 for the shows that we did. In fact, our first show as Kush we were paid N70, 000, 00 and what got to three of us to share at the end of the day was 10, 000. 000. It was not easy for us to carry on with all the fame without having the essence of it all and I think that was what led to members of Kush looking an alternative. After the group died everybody just wanted to go their separate ways musically.
Is there a likelihood that the group might come together to do something that is music related in future?
Time heals all wounds and I believe that everything is possible should God allow. I know I am open to it.
What is motherhood like because you presently have two kids?
I don’t know if you ever get used to it. I only have two children. My first; is seven and half years old and my second is a year old. So, I had six years in between and I feel like I am starting again. It is not something that you ever get used to. As a woman; your life gets put on hold when you have a baby. You are pregnant for almost a year, and you think the worst is over when the baby pops out, but then you have to start to take care of a child that is totally dependent on you for every single thing. It is a lot of sacrifice and the industry doesn’t understand what women give. I have learnt to face my job, I try not to compare myself with any other person because there are many women in the industry who are single and if I were to do the things that they do as fast as they do it I will make myself go crazy. I have come to be thankful that I have a family and a career going on at the same time. When you put your career on hold for two or three years because you want the kids to be alright it’s a huge sacrifice because a lot of people would have released two or three albums in that time, but I have a lot to be thankful for.
At what point did you decide my career is secondary family first?
I think at the point when I decided I wanted to have a baby. You have to be prepared for what comes with it. It’s a whole life you just can’t leave untended to.
Your husband seems to sacrifice a lot for you, am I right?
We work together. My husband is self-employed so his schedule sometime is flexible. That makes him able to work with me. We communicate and some days we do a lot of things together. So, we work on the go. You have to make things work and I am really blessed to have a man like him because there are not many men who would do that for their wife.
Who did you meet him?
We met at a real estate firm when I was just fresh out of the University. I was still with Kush at the time but most people didn’t know I was doing a 9 to 5 job. He was also working in the firm. He was working as a legal practitioner and I was working as a marketing executive. We met and became friends. I had already known him from church because we attended the same church. We have grown to become good friends, asides husband and wife.
What attracted you to him?
I think a big part of me decided to go with him because I loved his personality. He is a very driven man, I love the fact that he believes in God and loves God. I also love the way he works. I looked at him and I said this is the kind of man I want to spend the rest of my life with. He is a dreamer and he also knows how to make it work. I call him my make it happen man.
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