Photos: Get to know the sexy Habida from Kenya
Born in Nairobi, Kenya, Habida has taken the road less traveled to this point in her budding career. In her hometown, Habida was involved in a small community-acting troupe for a number of years, which further advanced her love for creativity and acting. She also found time to model for the internationally renowned African agency, Kiko Romeo.
Thoughts of pursuing her dramatic studies grew, so much so, that in 1998 she made the choice to leave the comforts of her home and study drama abroad, in London, at Lewisham College. Habida’s love for three decades of soul (60-80s) tugged at her spirit.
Soon, she found herself trading much needed sleep for extra time writing poetry (which later became the seeds to herself written songs) and taking her singing talent to another level. As one could surmise, she decided to dedicate her time to the written word as well as song compositions, recording a 6-song demo in the spring of 2003. Not one to be complacent, she searched for a way to couple and excel in her two loves, theatre and music.
She then decided to move to Atlanta, the heart of soul and R&B, where she then continued in her path towards musicianship. She studied at Kennesaw State University where she attained a degree in musical theatre. With this under her belt she recorded several tracks with a number of production houses looking for the right deal, wrote and stared in a soap opera as a lead role as well as worked in several TV shows as an extra. She kept up her modeling career as a source of income as well.
In 2007 Habida then saw it fit with all the experience she had gained to move back home to where she was born and to where her parents reside, Nairobi. She then met the renowned producer Robert Kamanzi AKA Rkay and started recording and together produced and released the hit singles ‘Sunshine’ and ‘Kesho’.
The relationship spawned and in the first year the song ‘Sunshine’ which is collaboration with the Kenyan artist Nameless, won the Listeners Choice Awards in 2009 at the MTV Africa Music Awards. Following on from the instant success Habida was then nominated for 3 other Awards in 2010 at the East African CHAT Awards, for Best Female Artist, Best Video and Best New Artist, where she took home the Best Video Award. In March 2011 Habida was also nominated as best new artist of the month on MTV.
Habida is keen on diversifying her art which is also why she has and hopes to continue working with producers from different genres an example of this is her collaboration with the US techno producer currently residing in Germany, Dan Curtin on several releases, some already released and others in the pipeline. Efforts are also underway to work with House, Drum & Bass and Neo Soul producers in the future.
PHOTOS: Habida’s Facebook Page
